The Unspoken Betrayal
by DangerTaylor
Summary: Five hundred and twenty seven days after Crait, Rey stands in her quarters on Dantooine and curses the Force. How had it come to this? She had told so many lies that if the truth were to come out, she would be lost to both sides of the war. Rey thought she had a plan, thought she found her place, created a family, but that was all before the unspoken betrayal tore her apart.
1. Part I

**AN: Here I go again...putting out a multi-part "one shot". This idea has been racking my thoughts and dreams for a while and I need to get it out.**

 **This story starts out right after The Last Jedi and came about when I heard some of the spoilers for Ep. 9.**

 **Big Thank You to my Muse who I** **always bounce ideas off of and she deals with being the Beta to my obnoxiously long one shots.**

 **Okay, enough rambling. Enjoy my crazy inner musing and your thoughts and comments are like crack, so make sure to drop me a line below.**

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 **Part I**

The Force...

"Fuck the Force," Rey whispered to herself as she rested her forehead against the cold durasteel wall of her meager quarters. The metal felt heavenly on her heated skin and she only lifted her head to tame the flyaways that tickled her face.

The heat of this planet was miserable, nothing like the arid climate of Jakku that felt like sticking her head behind a firing thruster, instead the humidity made her sweat through her linen arm wraps just a few hours after sunrise. Dantooine would have not been her first choice to settle what was left of the Resistance, but then again, nobody asked her input on anything.

Just a few months ago, Rey would have been mortified to utter a curse at the Force. The special connection between her and every other particle of energy in the galaxy gave her an almost Goddess-like status with the rag-tag group of rebels. She had only been awakened to the Force about a year and a half ago, back on Starkiller Base when Kylo Ren had reached into her mind.

Thinking back on her youth, Rey felt that maybe she had always had the Force on her side. The fact that she survived on Jakku to adulthood was a miracle within itself. Just the danger of scrapping the fallen Star Destroyers was enough to test fate. She remembered one time when she had fallen from a gangplank in the _Ravager_ , thinking she would land on the open landing deck but ended up ten feet to the left in a pile of shifting sand. Or how she had somehow known that there would be a stock of perma-sealed portions in some Captain's quarters on the _Inflictor_ when she was too ill to scavenge.

But now...after everything, she really meant it, "Fuck the Force," she repeated, a little louder this time, kicking her steel-toed boots against the wall.

To fully understand her current frustration with the Force, Rey had to go back...

The small group of Resistance fighters escaped Crait after the new Supreme Leader, Kylo Ren, had battled with the Force projection of Luke Skywalker. The old Jedi had sacrificed himself so that his sister and her comrades could find a way out of the mines and be rescued by Chewie and Rey in the _Millennium Falcon._

The Force had connected Rey and Kylo Ren when she was training with Skywalker on Ahch-To. It began with Rey hissing insults at him and Kylo trying to better understand her. She had learned the true creation story of the monster Kylo Ren and she had felt compassion for him, she had reached out to him and they were both surprised when they could physically interact through their bond.

Rey had delivered herself to him, thinking that she could get Kylo Ren to turn back to the Light, but old Supreme Leader Snoke had laughed at both of them for their foolishness. Snoke took credit for bridging their minds, stoking Kylo's conflict, and relying on Rey's empathy to bring them into his trap. How wrong he had been. When given the order to kill Rey, Kylo had faltered, choosing to strike down his Master instead.

When the smoke and ash had settled after a heated fight with Snoke's Praetorian guards, Kylo had turned to Rey, now extending his hand to her and asking…no, pleading with her to join him, to rule with him, to be with him. Rey had denied him in glorious fashion, splitting Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber and then leaving Kylo behind, unsure if he would survive the rest of the conflict. Looking back, Rey regretted not making sure he was safe, presently not being able to fathom the galaxy without his Force signature in it.

They both thought that the bond died with Snoke, but when they were connected again on Crait, Kylo knew that the bond was something so much more. As he looked up at her, the words he had screamed at Skywalker in anger and hurt, _I'll destroy her..._ , he knew they were a lie.

After that few seconds of connection on the salt covered world, the bond was silent for sixty-two days…

On day five Kylo reached out attempting to find her location so he could destroy the rest of the Resistance.

On day seventeen Rey tried to reach out, wanting to give Kylo Ren a piece of her mind.

On day thirty Kylo had reached out, hoping to just see her face.

Perhaps the Force was wise to keep them apart, allowing them both time to collect themselves. Kylo was angry and hurt. Rey was confused and felt more lost and alone than she ever had.

So on day sixty-two, the bond opened. Rey was in the mess hall of the new Resistance base on Dantooine, surrounded by her friends and some new recruits. Everyone wanted to know the last Jedi and at times Rey found it suffocating. Kylo was in a room full of his top leadership going over plans for his New Order.

They sat across from one another, the bond flickered for just a moment, long enough for Rey to suck in a gasp and Kylo to clench his fists. But in those few seconds, when their eyes met, they had an unspoken conversation that tried to express the feelings that had been festering for two standard months.

Rey felt that she now had a cooler head when it came to Kylo Ren and she was almost thankful for the time that the Force chose to keep them apart. So the next time the sound was drawn from the room, she was ready for him.

It was day seventy, late at night, when Rey was alone in her quarters. Kylo appeared to her as if he was seated on an invisible chair, his surcoat hung open and he was pulling at his boots. Rey sat up from her prone position, throwing her legs over the side of her cot, mimicking his position.

Kylo glanced up for just a moment, meeting her gaze through a veil of black hair, and then went back to stripping his boots from his tired feet. Rey watched him but picked at a hangnail, anything to reduce the urge to spew every feeling and thought that had been circling in her mind since they were last together. She studied his face, pale and drawn, deep purple shadows hung under his dark eyes. His hair looked longer as if he had not tended to it in some time and she found herself wondering if it was long enough to stick out from under his ridiculous mask. But she knew that it didn't because she was following all of his public appearances on the holonet.

He removed his gloves and pulled his coat off of his shoulders, rolling his neck and then ran his bare fingers through his hair. He carried on with his usual nightly routine because if he acknowledged her...that she was sitting right in front of him, he wouldn't be able to control the flood of emotions that he had been holding back.

When he finally looked up at her, she was chewing on her bottom lip. He sucked in a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment, opening them again just to be sure that she was really there and this was not just a dream. "I'm sorry," he finally spoke.

Rey's breath shuttered as if a chill had run over her, "Me too." Tears started to form in her eyes and one escaped down her cheek.

"Rey," he reached out to wipe her delicate face, but she disappeared and her tear landed on his outstretched fingers.

The Force seemed to know when they needed to be connected and it continued to be something that they had no control over. Sometimes she saw him every day and other times it was two week between their meetings.

They had moments when they screamed at one another and times of just sitting together in silence.

Rey found that she was spending more time trying to understand her connection to the Force but was still too stubborn to ask for his help. She would pour over the text that she had taken from Ahch-To and Kylo would try to ignore her while scrolling through memos on his datapad.

Finally, on night ninety-one he looked up from his work, "Real books are uncommon."

"Yes," she answered without looking up. "It's very old." She heard the sound of shifting leather and knew that he was coming towards her. Within seconds she could smell something between ionized air and singed hair and knew that he had lit his saber that day. She only wondered for a moment how many lives were ended by his hand and unstable blade.

When he looked down on the book, he couldn't believe his eyes and without thinking he reached down and ran his finger tips along the tattered page. "Where did you get this?" His tone was half awe, half accusatory.

"The library on Ahch-To," she answered and swatted his hand away.

Kylo rubbed at the back of his hand, not because her strike hurt, but because that was the first physical contact they had made since the _Supremacy_. "That's where Skywalker was?"

"Yes," Rey finally looked up at him, seeing no point in hiding the location of Luke since the last Jedi had been one with the Force for almost a quarter year. "The library is no longer there, it burned to the ground."

"You've been back there?"

"You're not the only one who gets to crisscross the galaxy."

"It's not safe for you out there." He now went back to sitting across from her.

Rey scoffed, "It would be if you didn't have a bounty on my head."

Kylo could tell that this would be one of those connections that kept him up for the rest of the night. "The order does say to bring you in alive and unharmed. That's the best I could do."

"Right, must keep up appearances that I was the one who killed Snoke. Wouldn't want your group of flip-flopping thugs to turn against you."

He put his head in his hands before running his fingers through his hair, "We've been over this Rey..."

She would never admit that her name crossing his lips made her shiver. "Yes, yes. You are changing everything from the inside...all for the betterment of the galaxy." Rey rolled her eyes and twirled her hand in the air as if reciting something back that she had heard a million times before.

"You could have been a part of this if you would have just stayed," he almost regretted the words as they left his mouth and they looked at each other in silence for just a moment more than what was comfortable.

"I know," Rey finally said between gritted teeth.

Her response shocked him. Never in their countless bonds had she admitted that it was a mistake to not stay with him. He was sure that her standing by his side would have come with many stipulations and impossible compromises, all of which he was willing to grant her.

But the bond closed before he could reply, as it always did when they were reaching a new pinnacle in their relationship. He was beginning to believe that the Force was unkind, the Force was wanting, and the Force was going to drive him to insanity.

On day one hundred and eleven Kylo had been sitting in his newly acquired throne in an empty audience chamber aboard the _Finalizer_. The room was smaller and not as garish as Snoke's throne room, but it was enough to display Kylo's power over any subject that came before him.

He was in his mask, having just dismissed a group of leaders from Tava Yagen. The First Order needed a steady supply of durelium to repair their fleet and negotiations always went in his favor if the room was cloaked with fear. So the mask and modulated voice had afforded them a thirty percent discount for the rare ore.

His posture was that of imposing apathy, legs splayed wide, leaned to the right on his elbow as his other arm laid upon one of the massive stone rests flanking the sitting platform. His heavy alloy encased head was propped against two leather covered fingers and he looked out at nothing in particular.

And then the sound pulled from the room.

Rey materialized before him, her laugh echoed in the empty space as if she was truly there. She was twirling about, her head thrown back as she continued to shriek with joy. When her head came back up and her gaze met his, her feet faltered and then she snapped her head back to the left, "I'm sorry Finn!" She cried out, holding her hands out, palms up as if hovering over an open wound. "I forgot the steps…your poor toes," her voice was back up to a laugh by the end of her speech.

Dancing…Kylo mused. Rey was dancing and looking radiant doing it.

He shifted his body, sitting up a little straighter, before moving his hands to the base of his mask, removing it with a swift up-jerk of his elbows. He palmed the crown of the helmet, setting it down with a heavy thud on the arm of his throne.

The sound pulled her attention again, she scratched at her arm nervously, as if being caught doing something she shouldn't. Rey thought for a moment that Kylo would lash out at her for being so close to Finn, she had learned that Kylo had a bit of a jealous streak when it came to her. But she was shocked and pleasantly surprised when a smile pulled at the right side of his lips.

"Please don't stop on my account," he said lazily, holding out his hand as if giving a gesturing order for her to continue.

Rey bit her lip, her gaze dropping from his, thinking about making an excuse to leave the party that her friends had put on. But it appeared that Kylo and herself were in a better place than just a few months ago, when he cut his Master through for tearing into her mind with a violating force.

So she did as he said and turned back to Finn, allowing him to take her around the waist and then lead her into another hopping and twirling dance lesson. Rey never lost awareness of his dark eyes that followed her every movement, but she was able to relax under the silent observation, tossing glances his way every few minutes, wishing to continue seeing the light expression on his scarred face.

Sure...Kylo's hand itched to touch her, to hold her close and spin her around a room in the practiced elegance of a Senator's son. In his twenty-three years prior to the academy, he had attend many State dinners and entertained many diplomat's daughters. But if he was allowed to actually hold her, hold his Rey, he would make sure that she felt that she was his only.

His attention was snapped out of his musings when he heard her voice, telling her friends that she was going to get something to drink. She walked towards him, making a motion as if she was closing a door behind herself and then continued to just below his dais, "I can't go any further in this room," her voice was quiet. "You are going to have to come to me."

An amused huff of a laugh breathed through his nose and he looked down at her before shifting forward and off his throne, taking the four steps down off the dais with careful slow motions. A few more long strides and he was standing before her. "You are having fun with your friends," it hung as a statement more than a questions.

"I am," Rey smiled up at him.

He brushed a stray curl that had come loose from her half up, half down hair style. Her cheeks were rosy from laughing and the physical excursion of dancing. Her bright eyes sparkled and if he were a braver man he would have tried to kiss her, but instead he just returned her smile and said, "I'm glad."

Her body betrayed her and she blushed from her chest to her hair line and she tried to bring back some banter, "I'm sure you find all of this childish. I mean it's not like the great Kylo Ren knows how to dance..." she said snickering to herself at the end of her comment, just thinking of him in his cumbersome robes performing some of the moves that Finn had just demonstrated.

"You'd be surprised. I have attended more galas than I'm willing to admit to."

Rey bit her lip, "Well Supreme Leader, show me what you got."

Kylo's face when slack, "I don't think so Rey..."

She stepped up to him and captured his wrist in her small hand, pulling at the glove on his right hand. He lost the ability to breathe as Rey was willingly touching him and undressing him...even if it was just his hand. So he brought his left hand to his mouth, gripping the thick leather between his teeth and pulled the other glove off, throwing it to the ground as if it was inconsequential.

Now bare handed, he gripped her hand and placed the other at the small of her back, pulling her slightly closer to him and he was satisfied to hear a small gasp. "This is a simple box step," he instructed, speaking quietly down to her and then started to move to the count of four.

Rey looked down at their feet, wondering how a man who looked like he lumbered everywhere, could move so slightly. Her left hand was on his shoulder and with each of their movements, strands of his hair tickled at her fingers, her mind moved quickly and she had to distract herself by continuing to looking down.

"Don't look at your feet," Kylo started. "Look at me."

When her eyes came back up to meet his, Rey felt for just a moment that the thing she had been searching for her entire life was found. Lost in his gaze she needed to regroup and she looked over his entire face, finding his lips and cursing herself for spending just a second too long on them.

"You're quite good at this," Rey finally said, wishing to break the feeling of the Force pulsing around them.

"I'm hurt that you doubted my ability," he joked back.

"What is this dance called?"

"It's a waltz," Kylo answered and then started to hum a soft melody as he led her in more sweeping movements and even at one point encircled her tiny waist and lifting her for a half turn.

Rey let out a small 'eep' with surprised but followed it with the same laughter that she had barked out at Finn's less graceful moves.

"You are a quick learner," Kylo commented while leaning in towards her, wanting to bask in the light she was giving off.

"Well, I have a good teacher."

Kylo's pace faltered at her words, thinking back to the side of a cliff on Starkiller. "There are so many things I could show you, Rey," he had now halted their movement and his tone turned serious. "Let me teach you..."

Rey stepped out of his hold, secretly missing his warmth. "You know that can't happen."

"Why," Kylo pleaded, taking a step back towards her, wanting to reach for her hands again.

"You are on the Darkside and I am on the Light. I will not fall into darkness with you."

"Rey," her name was like a prayer on his lips. "It is just us. There is no Dark or Light side...there is just us and we can make the Force into whatever we want."

"But we want different things Ben...Kylo..." she stumbled over his name, not knowing what to really call him. When he had tried to take the saber from her in Snoke's throne room and when he had fired upon her and her friends on Crait, she was sure that Ben was gone and that Kylo was all that remained. But the man that had just hummed to her and spun her around a darkened supply room couldn't be that same man.

"You can call me Ben...for you I will always be Ben."

His words were soft and his breath ghosted across her face in a calming manner and it sent a shiver down her spine. She gulped, "We want different things from the Force, Ben."

"We want peace and balance...the rest we can figure out as we go." His brows dropped and his gaze bore into her. "Please Rey. Let me teach you...let me show you the true power of the Force and we can find balance…together."

Kylo held his hand out to her again, knowing full well what happened the last time he extended her an offer and uttered the word 'please'. But to his complete surprise and leaving a dumbfounded look on his face, he had to blink a few times when he felt her warm hand slip back into his.

"So we can find balance," she repeated and just as his fingers started to close around her small hand, he was pulled from the bond and she was left cold and alone in the supply room.

He stood in the middle of his throne room for a long moment, just looking at the space in front of him that Rey had just occupied. She had just agreed to allow him to teach her about the Force and he wasn't going to blow the opportunity. He wasn't going to stick with the narrow minded ideals of the Jedi or drag her into the dark deeds of the Sith. He was going to give her the best of both sides, warn her of the down falls of each and allow her to find her own balance.

Kylo on the other hand was an ever swinging pendulum. Diving into the Dark when needed and then being called back to the Light. He would always straddle the line, leading the galaxy would never allow him to have a strong foothold in one or the other, but for him, he was unsure if balance was a state of mind or state of being, but believed that perhaps it may just be embodied in the small woman he just held in his arms.

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 **AN: I have not given up on FOOB, I just needed to get this story out so I can refocus. Also, check out my other "one shot" Stellar.**

 **AN from the future: I have a Tumblr now... thedangertaylor I have photos of the cast of OC on there and I am going to start doing some mood boards. Come join me...**


	2. Part II

**Part II**

On day one hundred and fifty-six they had a quiet moment alone in their quarters. The few other times that the bond had opened since the impromptu dance lesson, one or both of them were occupied with other tasks or around too many people to interact more than just a passing glance. Perhaps during one of those times, Kylo might have reached out a gloved hand and twirled a lock of her hair around his leather covered finger and perhaps he may have loved the blush that rose on her cheeks at the simple gesture.

But on this night, they were seated cross-legged on the floor in front of each other. "What did Luke teach you?" The name of his uncle was bitter on Kylo's tongue but he had to know where Rey was in her rushed and most likely lackluster Jedi training.

Rey looked down at her tangled hands, thinking about how she had parted from Luke, pointing a lightsaber at his neck and telling him that Kylo Ren was their only hope. She had only half believed the words when they left her mouth, but here she was now, learning from someone who was as gray as they come.

"Not much..." she admitted almost embarrassingly. "He had me reach out and feel the Force, feel the connection between everything. He was scared of my power, he was scared..." she swallowed, not wanting to admit the next part, especially to Kylo. "He was scared that I went quickly to the Dark when it offered me something that I wanted."

Kylo pressed his lips together knowing that the Darkness had enticed her with the promise of information regarding the identity and fates of her parents, and while the Darkside had not revealed the answers to Rey, Kylo had been privy to the visions and memories that had been long forgotten.

"He said that he had only seen that type of power once before...with you...and while it didn't scare him then, stating something about his hubris, it scared him now." Rey had felt shameful over this. While she had not shown it on the island and stated that she would never become anything like Kylo Ren, Rey was disappointed that Luke was unable to see the good in her.

Even though she sat with the man she swore to never learn from, go to, or become like, she felt no shame in the decision now. Perhaps she was not becoming like Kylo Ren, but he was becoming more like her. They were meeting somewhere in the middle and she knew that is all she could ever ask of him.

"Luke told me that the Jedi had to die, but never went into detail as to why. He lived in an exile of his own making, serving out a penance while the galaxy fell apart around him."

"My uncle was a coward," Kylo said before he could stop himself.

Rey gave him a tight-lipped sympathetic smile, "I know what he did to you at the academy was wrong, you both had faults in that tragedy. I know he hid away on that island and buried his head in the sand for years, but when it mattered...when it really counted, he came through and distracted you from killing your mother and her followers. He kept you from killing me..." She looked down in her lap, thinking back on all his misdeeds.

His large hand came into her view and wrapped around her two hands that were clasped together. "I never wanted to kill you...truly..."

She snorted, "You had a funny way of showing it...ion cannons are a pretty lousy way of saying that you want me to live on to see another day."

"I was hurt," he said defensively and withdrew his hand from hers.

Rey reached out and took his hand again, "I know," she said softly. "We were both hurt that day but I would like to think that we have been able to do some healing over the past five months." She bit at her lip, mulling over her next thought. "If we are going to make this work...whatever this is between us, we have to forgive each other for the pain we have caused one another."

Kylo would never stop being amazed at the emotional maturity of the beautiful woman before him. She was never coddled and throwing fits would have been a waste of energy, a luxury she did not have growing up in the harsh deserts of Jakku. While he would do anything to go back and erase the suffering from her past, he also suspected that the reason the Force put her through the torment of Jakku was so she could be the balance that he needed. So that she could survive the tragedy that was his existence.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Kylo looked deep into her open expression. "I am the one who has done the unforgivable. Since the moment we touched hands on Ahch-To and I saw your future…our future, I have wanted nothing more than to try and be worthy of what was shown to me."

"If I go to him, Ben Solo will turn..." Rey rehashed the words that she had spoken to Luke on the rain-stricken island. She looked up to meet his eyes, "When Luke wouldn't come with me I told him that you were our last hope."

Kylo pressed his lips together again, "I did turn, just not in the way you hoped I would..."

"You said that I would be the one to turn," Rey thought back to their brief conversation in the turbolift.

"I never wanted you to turn to the Darkside, I just wanted you to turn to _me_ ," he spoke the words like a spoiled boy unwilling to share a new toy on the playground.

She wasn't sure if her blush was because his words were sweet or assuming, but Rey's chest heated. They were getting off topic again and she didn't want to go down the road that the conversation was heading. "Forgiveness Kylo..."

"I wish you would call me Ben," his voice was almost a whisper.

"Perhaps one day when I know he is in there," she reached across the small space that separated them and placed her hand, flat-palmed over his heart.

Leaving her hand in its place, Rey started her long ramble, "I forgive you for kidnapping me on Takodana and invading my mind. I forgive you for hurting my friends, Poe and Finn. I forgive you for firing on the fleet..."

"That wasn't actually me...that was Hux and Snoke..."

Rey gave him a pointed look, "So you had nothing to do with the bridge blowing up while your mother was on it?"

"Oh," he looked down at his hands in his lap. "That."

She put a little more pressure through her fingers, pressing into his chest. "I forgive you for trying to kill your mother, both on the Raddus and also on Crait. I forgive you for trying to wipe out the Resistance. I forgive you for attacking your uncle." Thinking of the fallen Jedi made her eyes start to water and she sniffled. "I forgive you for killing your fa..." his eyes shot up to her, "...for killing Han."

He couldn't believe the words that were coming from her lips, sounding like the song of angels, trumpeters announce the inflow of her Light, seas and stars part for the feeling that crashed over his broken body and soul. Rey's hand still on his chest seemed to breathe life back into the hollow space that existed just behind his ribs.

Without a second thought, he reached up and brushed the tears that now streamed down her face. He had nothing to forgive her for, she had done nothing wrong, having only protected herself and the people that she loved. Unlike Kylo, who had done horrible things for revenge and power. But why was she looking at him like she also had pain that needed to be relieved?

He took a shaky breath and tried to ease her strain, "Thank you for sparing me on Starkill and leaving your mark on me. Thank you for making Luke believe there was still something worth fighting for. Thank you for being there when I had no one else..."

Her tears were falling harder. "Thank you for believing in me, for coming to me, fighting for me, and for pushing me to kill the person who truly caused me the most pain. Thank you for saving me in more ways than you can ever fathom..."

Somehow they had moved closer to each other without any thought, "Thank you for saving my mother and trying to get me to come home. Thank you for understating now why I couldn't go with you...for understanding the work that I am trying to do. Thank you for trusting me and being here..." he placed his large hand over hers as it was still pressed over his heart, "...with me."

"Thank you for being the Light that I am pulled to. Thank you for being the reason that I no longer feel alone..."

Rey blinked a few times, his voice had become very low and she was lost within his dark gaze. She licked at her lips and her eyes flicked to his mouth that was slightly parted at the end of his speech. She wondered what it would feel like to be kissed by Kylo Ren but shook the thought from her mind as she sat back from him, pulling her hand with her. "I don't think I did all of that..." she said bashfully.

"You've done more, Rey," Kylo interjected, not allowing her to discredit everything she had done for him...what she was doing for the galaxy without even being aware of it.

She bit her lip and looked up at him through her lashes, oblivious to the power that she held over the Supreme Leader of all that was known and unknown, but when he reached for her, she scampered to her feet, quickly pacing the other side of the small room.

"I thought you were going to teach me about the Force..."

Kylo cleared his throat, wiping his palms on his pants before standing as well. "Yes, uh, well the books you have are a good start because they were written before the Jedi bent the Force to their whims before the Jedi were a political party with influence in law and war."

Rey twisted her face at the idea that the Jedi ways she had read about in the first scrips could be used for anything other than good.

"Under the Jedi code, this right here," he motioned between them, "would be forbidden."

"What…friendship?" Rey asked confused.

Kylo's face fell for just a moment before he clarified, "Attachments. It is probably a miracle that the two of us exist at all."

Rey's face was once again confused and he sighed realizing that he would have to spell everything out to her. At times he forgot how young and sheltered from the rest of the galaxy she had been. "My mother, while she has the Force, decided to not join the Jedi order and instead chose to marry my father. It can only be assumed that one of your parents had the Force and picked attachment over the cult of the Jedi Order.

"My uncle, if he was faithful to the Jedi code, lived like a monk. No feelings or emotions towards others, not even family, though I know he cared for his sister. But the Jedi were not allowed to marry or even take a lover. So we would not exist if our parents had become Jedi."

"And what do the Sith say on the matter?" Rey asked.

"Passion..." he swallowed, "in all forms, is encouraged."

Rey was tired of blushing under his suggestive tone. She wasn't ignorant to romantic relationship…well she was, but she had witnessed others on Jakku and she was often subjected to the borderline nauseating displays from Finn and Rose. She also knew that what she had with Kylo was beyond friendship…she had seen a glimpse of their future and saw no reason for the Force to lie to her, but that didn't mean that she had to accept her fate at this very moment.

"So where does this leave you, if you are not Jedi, nor Sith?"

"I suppose it leaves _us_ somewhere in the between." He needed her to understand that she also did not belong to one side or the other. She belonged with _him_. "We want passion and peace, strength and knowledge, emotion and serenity, and harmony within victory."

"Balance," Rey breathed in understanding.

"Yes," he said excitingly, taking a long stride towards her. "Yes, balance."

The air around them became thick again as if the Force was trying to physically push them together. Kylo didn't really mind, but he still saw the fear in her eyes when he got too close, so he decided humor would break the tension. "You would make a pretty lousy Jedi anyways…"

Rey looked offended, pinching her brows together and cocking her hand on her hip, "How so?"

"You have too much heart," he smirked when her expression softened. "You could never suppress your emotions and anyone who would ask you to is a fool. You love those around you deeply and are loyal almost to a fault. You are fierce and protective, you are stubborn and _passionate_ even if it is in your hatred towards me."

She wasn't used to having such nice things said about her, let alone such intimate complements coming from Kylo Ren. "I never hated you…" she said trying to still hold the blush at bay.

"You don't have to lie," Kylo laughed. "It's just us."

Rey cracked a smile as well, "Ok…so I hated you a little." She watched the beautiful and boyish smile stay on his face and she regretted having to bring down the light atmosphere in the room but she had to know. "Did you ever hate me?" She asked in a small voice.

Kylo's full smile fell to just the slightest curve of his lips and he exhaled. "No," he answered simply. "I was intrigued, jealous, embarrassed, enamored…but hate would never be an emotion that I would associate with you."

Her face screwed up again, "Jealous? Embarrassed? How…why?"

"You were untrained, not even knowing that you had the Force and you bested me both mentally and physically. When I failed on Starkiller Snoke was…" he blinked remembering his punishment, "Snoke was not pleased."

Seeing the pain in his eyes, pain from his memories, Rey reached out again, "I'm sorry I caused trouble for you."

His smile was now sad, not reaching his eyes as his gaze danced over her expression, "It was nothing that I hadn't endured before."

She wondered how many scars lay under his dark robes and worried about the ones that were unseen and marked his mind and his heart. She wanted to reach out to him but the bond crackled and she only got one word out before he was gone.

"Ben…"

During the next week, Rey mulled over their discussion, not only feeling lighter at expressing her forgiveness and receiving his words of praise but also thought more on the idea of the space between Dark and Light, Jedi and Sith. The lines of right and wrong began to blend together as the Resistance started to build in numbers again.

Crews would come back from missions, boasting about how many TIEs they shot down or how many Troopers they had killed. She wondered if the same back-slapping was happening within the First Order and it put war into perspective for Rey. That what was considered 'right' was only relative to which side one stood on.

But she was in the between, in the middle, in the Gray, and this did not help her with the feeling of belonging that she still sought. How could she feel like she was a part of something bigger than herself, but also feel like the smallest parts were just slightly askew, causing the machine, her body, her mind, her spirit, to run a bit off kilter.

It was that night, six days after their last meeting, on day one hundred and sixty-two that he appeared in her quarters. The mask, the one that no longer scared her, but that she still disliked was covering his face and made his steady voice sound mechanical.

"You look tired," Kylo said, having just stepped into his own quarters after a trying day.

"It's been a long day…a long week," Rey relayed to him but only admitted to herself that it was long because he had not been around. She looked up at the sound of his helmet disengaging and she watched him pull the heavy crown from his head. "You're face…" she gasped.

His hair was wet and matted to his head and his naturally pale skin was peppered with red spots and areas that were already starting to bruise in varying shades of purple. Now that she really looked at him, his shoulders were slumped and he looked as exhausted as she felt.

"I can still feel hits through this thing," Kylo tapped on his even more battle marked helmet, but he froze when he looked back up and saw her walking towards him. He held his breath as she reached out her shaking hands and laid them against the heated skin of his face.

Rey wished she was trained in Force healing so she could take away his pain and upon closer inspection, there were burn marks dotting his surcoat. She reached up and firstly ran her palm across his right cheek, the pad of her thumb tracing the mark she had left on him.

His breath shuttered in his chest as she inspected all of the wounds on his face before she moved her fingers down each arm. She easily found the blaster injury to his left arm and she let out another gasp, looking up at him with worry in her eyes. "It's just a graze. It doesn't hurt…"

But he sucked in a breath as she tried to peel back the layers of leather to get a better look at the wound. "Okay," he admitted. "Maybe it hurts a little."

Rey became determined and went to work. First pulling off his gloves and seeing the busted knuckles of his right hand, then it was using her nimble fingers to unhook the closure down the center of the surcoat, carefully sliding each of his long arms out of the pleated sleeves.

The damage to his left arm was worse than they both had thought, a chunk of his forearm was reduced to heated and angry skin. He sat before her in just his boots, pants, and a sleeveless undershirt, all black of course. Kylo tried to concentrate on anything other than the fact that she was undressing him or the feel of her hands across his skin.

"Did you get hit anywhere else?" She asked, running her hands over his chest and abdomen feeling for wet spots indicating a bleeding wound.

"Rey," Kylo said in a pained voice as she was kneeling before him, her hands grazing below his navel and across his hips.

"If you took a shot to center mass, we have to fix that one first…" Rey mused and continued her inspection, feeling him start to tremble under her touch.

Kylo clenched his fists next to his thighs, using all of his self-control to not grab her and pull her into his lap. "Rey," he said a little more forcefully. "Stop."

She pulled away from him as if she had been electrocuted but also worried that she had hurt him by pressing on an undiscovered injury. But when she looked up at him, seeing the burning in his gaze and the heavy rise and fall of his chest, she asked with concern, "Did I hurt you?"

His expression twisted with pain, but not the physical variety. "No…no you didn't hurt me. But you can't touch me like that and not expect…" His jaw pulsed as he gritted his teeth before he let out a calming breath. "Thank you for taking care of me and you are always welcome to touch me…in any way you want, but unless you want…" he breathed again. "I don't think I would be able to stop."

Rey was shocked at his admission and most likely took too long to process what he was saying and he stood and walk away from her, not being able to handle any more outright rejection at this point. But she quickly reached out, grabbing his right wrist. "Do you have dressing supplies in your quarters…or I could go get some…"

Looking down at the compassionate and amazing woman before him, Kylo thought he might have felt his heart swell just the smallest amount before he sighed in relief. "I usually tend to myself, so I have a med kit."

"Go fetch it and we will get you all patched up," Rey said with a bright smile but remained in her kneeling position, her butt resting on her heels.

Kylo walked to the fresher and came back out with a white metal box that contained everything from saline and gauze to bacta and sutures. He walked back to the couch that was in a small sitting area in his quarters and took back up his perch in front of Rey.

With great care, she took the needed supplies and with the grace of a well-trained nurse, cleaned, packed, and dressed his arm wound. "You really should have a med droid take a look at this tomorrow and see if it needs stitches."

"It will be okay," Kylo reassured, he wore his scars like badges of honor or as reminders to train harder, be better, and fight cleaner the next time.

Rey went to work wiping the dried blood from his knuckles but flitted looks up to him every few seconds. "I know we don't really talk about your…uh…work, but what happened to you?"

He leaned forwards, almost curving his body over hers, "We took the Senate today."

"On Coruscant?"

"Yes," he said and his gaze was testing, trying to apprise her reaction to the news. "It was the last stronghold of the New Republic."

Her expression didn't give away anything, and truthfully she didn't know how to feel about this turn of events. She had known that Kylo's First Order, or his New Order as he started calling it, couldn't exist alongside the Galactic Senate, but she also didn't know how he was planning to overthrow an entire governing system.

"Say something," he pleaded quietly. They had agreed a few months ago to not invade each other minds without permission, and for good measure, he had taught Rey how to strengthen the barrier around her mind.

"I don't know what I should be feeling right now," she admitted to him, knowing that he wouldn't judge her for her indifference. When she looked back up at him and saw intrigue and not disgust on his face she felt comfortable continuing. "We never felt the influence of the Senate on Jakku and in my meager travels with the Resistance, it appeared that the outer systems, at least the ones that didn't have a resource to offer to the Core Worlds were basically forgotten.

"All I have ever known was the lawless state governed by Plutt or the attempt at democracy here with your mother, but even here we have rank and order. The Senate doesn't have any control over the Resistance, we don't follow the orders passed down from the capital. The General has her counsel and they plot their next terrorist attack and decide what is best for the galaxy with again only the Core Worlds in mind."

It felt good to speak her mind as she smeared bacta gel on his hand before wrapping it in gauze. She was never invited to the council meetings but was told to either work on the flight decks repairing ships or Leia would just shoo her off to meditate and connect to the Force. If only they knew that the Force had a different connection in mind. "Who give her any more right than you to govern? Who gave the power to the Core at the expense of the Rim?"

Kylo may have cared deeply for Rey in the past, but as she mended him, in every meaning of the word, and spoke out about the hypocrisy of the Senate and his mother's one woman to rule them all attitude, he may have just fallen in love with her. "I'm so glad you are mine."

She heard the whisper of sentiment pass his lips and decided to not to give a reply beyond a smile that just pulled at the corner of her lips. Securing the last of the gauze between his fingers she finally looked up at him, "I think you will have to let the bruises on your face heal naturally unless you want to rub some bacta on them before you go to bed tonight."

"Thank you," he simply replied, thinking to himself that he never used those words towards anyone as often as he had with her in the past few months. Or perhaps now he truly meant them. "I'll be fine, but tell me what is bothering you."

Rey sighed and moved to sit back on the floor but his voice broke through before she should speak. "Where is your bed?" He innocently asked and her eyes went large before he continued, "It's late and I feel bad about you just sitting on the floor."

The blush finally came, all the way to the tips of her ears. But she took his wrapped right hand and allowed him to help her stand before moving across the room a few feet and sitting down on her single person cot.

Once she was settled, Kylo walked around his couch and easily pushed it across the polished floor of his room, saddling it up next to what he could only assume was a barracks cot. When he was a boy he had toured some of the old Rebel outposts with his mother and while he would rather wrap Rey up in the wool blanket that stretched across his large bed, he would take the cramped couch if it allowed him to be next to her.

He took one last glance at her before reclining and lying across the couch, his feet propped up onto the arm due to his height. Rey took his cue and also laid back, her cot was slightly higher than what he was lying on and when she turned towards him, pillow tucked under her head, she had a good view of his face, not wanting to miss any emotion that crossed his dark eyes.

Kylo could feel her gaze on him and he let her look for just longer than he should have before he turned and looked up at her, thinking that he would just about give up anything to spend every night falling asleep next to this woman. But as she had tended to him, it was his turn to care for her. "What's on your mind?"

She blushed again and oh how he wished he could have slipped into her mind to catch the slightest image of what caused the rosiness to rise in her cheeks again. Instead, she shifted on her bed and pulled a blanket up her body, tucking it under her arms.

"It's been a while since Ahch-To…a while since Crait…"

"One hundred and sixty-two standard days," Kylo confirmed.

Rey blinked, thinking that she had been the only one keeping count, "Yes…but I feel no closer to knowing why I am here. I am more mechanic than the fated Beacon of Light that the General talks up to get new recruits. Which don't get me wrong, I love working on the ships, but I just know that I am meant for more."

"You are," Kylo stated, not hiding what he was implying.

She pressed her lips together and rolled to her back, not able to look at his expressive face, "I once told you that I had never felt so alone..."

"And I told you that you are not alone," Kylo answered back with just as much meaning behind the simple but heavy words that passed his lips in her small cold hut on Ahch-To.

Bitting her lips again, she turned just her face to his, "Promise that you won't read too much into this..."

He smirked, "I can't promise anything."

Rey sighed, knowing that he was just teasing to get a rise out of her, and she was sure that perhaps Kylo had been the only one in her life that had never broken a promise to her...maybe because he didn't make promises. But she still sighed again, looking back up at the gray metal ceiling, before speaking. "The only time I don't feel completely lost and alone is when we are like this...when I'm with you."

When he didn't reply, Rey chanced a look at his face and she groaned at the wide tight-lipped grin that caused his cheeks to crease. He was trying to suppress a laugh and was looking quite proud of himself. Rey rolled her eyes and grabbed the pillow from under her head, swinging it with her right arm and bringing it down on his smug face.

Not being able to physically hurt him through the bond in the past, like when she had fired her blaster at him, Rey didn't think that the pillow would connect, but when she heard a muffled ' _oof_ ', she released the pillow and propped herself up on her left elbow as both of her hands when to cover the shocked and nervous chuckle that was falling from her lips.

Kylo palmed the pillow, pulling in the scent of her for a brief moment before he pulled it off his face, "Did you just hit your Supreme Leader in the face with a pillow?" His voice was a mix of dark power and mischief.

Rey gasped at the dark look in his eyes and the deep tenor of his voice that seemed to get under her skin and vibrate just below the surface. Almost dumbstruck, she said that first thing that came to her mind, "You aren't my Supreme Leader."

His eyebrow rose with challenge and amusement. "Oh?" Kylo mirrored her posture, lifting his torso off the couch and turning towards her, propped on his right elbow.

Her brain was still fuzzy under his intense gaze but she was able to string together the simple thought, "Snoke was Supreme Leader and I think that the title is almost an insult to what you are trying to achieve." She looked over his face, watching for him to give away his feelings towards her speech, but he gave her nothing. "You can be so much more than he ever was...you are better than he was."

The air seemed to be sucked from the space between them and she felt a nudge at the back of her head, begging her to lean into him, but she fought the tiny voice down and put it behind the wall with her other secret desires. Instead, she let out a breathy laugh, "Anyway, if I were to join you, we both couldn't be Supreme Leaders and Co-Supreme just sounds ridiculous..."

"Empress perhaps," the words ghosted out of Kylo's lips.

Her expression became pained, feeling like she was being asked an impossible question.

The bond cut them short before she could answer but her reaction plagued his thoughts as he tried to get comfortable on the couch, wanting to stay in his current position in case the bond opened again during the night, he could lay next to her still. He was surprised to notice that her pillow that had been resting in his lap was still there. This was a new development in their bond and he pulled the rather flat pillow to his chest as he stared off to the now empty space she had once occupied.

When his form disappeared from her quarters Rey flopped back on her cot, hitting the stiff surface harder than she intended. Sitting up again she looked for her pillow and noticed that it wasn't on the floor and cursed the bond for taking one of her only items of comfort.

As she pulled her blankets up around her shoulders, she played his words around in her mind. He was putting into play everything that he told her he would all along, he would rule the galaxy and he still wanted her at his side...not at an apprentice or padawan, not as a counselor or member of a committee, but as an Empress... _his_ Empress.

Her mind also flicked back to when she had been checking him for wounds and he made her stop touching him, she saw the pain and longing in his eyes and it sent a shiver down her already warm body. Kylo...Ben had always been forthcoming with his feelings towards her, outright telling her that she was not a nobody, not to him. He had wanted her back on the _Supremacy_ , had asked her stay, and she did what she feared the most. She had left him alone, hurt, and rejected.

Rey cried herself to sleep that night, even more confused about her place in this war, within the Force, and her budding feelings for Kylo Ren.

* * *

 **AN: I have this written through Part V with a total word count so far of 30,500. I have a feeling this will be around ten parts by the time we get to the end. I will get them out as soon as I can get them edited. Which...lots of love to my Beta Missing A Muse.**

 **As always, I love to get love. Thank you for taking the time to read my dribbles.**


	3. Part III

**Part III**

They danced around each other for the next month. Kylo was busy setting the groundwork for his new governing power and spending a lot of time on Coruscant. Sometimes when they were alone he would describe the city to her or express his frustrations with Hux who was still itching to display his military's power and possibly redeem himself for the blunder of Starkiller. He asked her advice on topics ranging from taxes to education reform. When he could tell that she didn't completely understand what he was asking, he took the time to explain each part of the current system and why he felt it didn't work for the good of all. Her candor was refreshing and Rey was most likely the only person in the galaxy that could call him an idiot and live to see another day.

On night two hundred and one Rey was alone in her quarters flipping through the Jedi texts trying to find guidance. She had been working constantly on the increasing number of ships in the Resistance fleet and all the while feeling even more lost to her purpose here. Most of her spare time was spent in a small clearing just outside of the compound, either spent in meditation and connecting to the Force or on more frustrating days, practicing forms with her quarterstaff.

This particular night she was exhausted from a day of training but she was determined to find what she was looking for. But her fatigue quickly got the best of her and she drifted to sleep, her cheek pressed against the old rough page of one of the ancient texts.

Kylo was in his office on Coruscant when the sound was pulled from around him. She came into focus lying across his desk of all places and he leaned back in his chair, rubbed at his face and then did something he hadn't done in days. He smiled.

As much as he wanted to wake her, tell her about the struggles he was having with some of his advisors or how he had just commissioned a new command shuttle with turbo thrusters with twice the power, for he knew she would love the craft, he had built it with her in mind, but he dare not rouse her.

She looked so peaceful and the bags under her eyes showed that she needed the rest. There were also worse ways to have to work late into the night, than with his beautiful woman stretched out before him.

He pulled the book out from under her face, mostly to protect the thousands of years old ink from the drool that was threatened to spill from her puffing lips, but also because he was interested in knowing what she had been studying before sleep took her.

Flipping to the previous page to read from the header, "Kyber crystals..." he spoke aloud but when he hear her snort and start to stir, he lowered his tone, "You clever girl."

Over the next few hours he worked on a multitude of different tasks, but he had firstly taken out a blank piece of parchment, scratching out a quick note to let Rey know that she had missed one of their connections. He blew on the ink before folding the note in half, slipping it between the pages of the book and then sliding the text under her hand, assuring that it would travel with her back into her realm.

As he worked, he couldn't help but be distracted by her. She stayed on her side, facing him the entire time and he reached out a few times to tuck stray hairs behind her ear. Kylo even rolled his chair up next to her head, propping his heavy boots on the desk top by her feet, and scanned over the newest reports on his holopad.

It seemed so domestic. He could almost imagine them going to bed together each night, he would work too much and she would do everything in her power to bring him back to her. Kylo's eyes left the lighted screen and shifted over to her face and for just a moment he wanted to believe the vision that the Force had shown him would come true.

In one of the moments that he took to study her resting form, he noticed that her head was propped on a folded up blanket and he cursed himself for not remembering that he still had her pillow. So he stood up quietly and moved quickly to his sleeping chamber that was begrudgingly more than a hundred paces across his apartment.

Bypassing her pillow, with the military grade case that never got less scratchy no matter how many times it was laundered, he grabbed the Chammian Ivory covered down stuff pillow from his side of the large and empty bed. The fabric under his fingers was softer than silk and perfect for the head of a future Empress to lay upon.

He lifted her head with the greatest of care, his large hand cradling her face as if it was the last Holocron that held all the answers to balancing the Force. Slipping the plush material under her head, he gently laid her upon it. She moaned in her sleep, pulling one of her arms up and over the pillow, hugging it to her and buried her face in the soft fabric.

Kylo was frozen watching her breath in his scent and let out a sound that started deep in her chest. He groaned and wanted to reach for her, but as she clutched the pillow closer, she faded into the bond.

The next morning when she woke, Rey scrubbed her face against her pillow and sighed as it felt as if she was being kissed by a cloud, a cloud that smelled like _him_. She snorted and jerked her head up, looking down at the most luxurious material she had ever felt before she turned her head, searching her room for him.

With her jerking movements, the Jedi text tumbled off her cot and the pages fell open and a folded piece of paper floated across her floor. Scampering out of her bed, she caught it before it could slip under her door, leaned up against the wall of her quarters and unfolded the paper.

His script was neat and practiced, but there was a slight edge to it as if he had been nervous or distracted while penning the note. Her fingers traced the words as she read them.

 _Sleeping Beauty,_

 _The bond has connected us and you can't even be bothered to be awake for it._

Rey saw the hesitation marks at the end of the sentence as if he was going to scratch it out, thinking that she wouldn't get his humor, which made her giggle more, putting her hand over her lips. Smiling into her palm she continues.

 _You look so tired and I wish I could absolve you of your worries and your pain._

There were a few pen points on the page as if he wanted to write more on the subject but decided against it.

 _I saw in the text that you were studying Kyber Crystals and the next time we meet I will answer any questions you have about them, but I have also including a list of materials that you will need._

Rey flipped to the next page and saw a list for twenty or so items that she could most likely find in the mechanic's bay in the hangar. Flipping back to the note she finished reading.

 _If you wake up before reading this and see me watching you as you sleep, please excuse the creeper factor of my actions. I am but a lost man being shown the meaning of his miserable existence._

 _Always yours,_

 _B_

Rey read the last line over a few times, both wanting to smile and cry simultaneously. It was so Kylo, poking fun at himself before making a very serious and intimate comment. At the bottom of the page she traced the _B_ , he had signed it as Ben, and he was giving that part of himself to her, always and only hers.

She held the letter to her chest before standing from her place on the floor. Rey tucked the first page of the letter into a wooden box that she kept hidden at the back of her dresser drawer. She took the other page and slid into her packet, intent to slowly gather the items outlined on it in a way that she wouldn't be suspected of attempting to make herself a new saber. She already received guarded looks and heard the scared whispers of new recruits that didn't understand her powers within the Force and she didn't want to draw any unwanted attention to herself.

Thankfully the bond connected them nine days later, in the afternoon of day two hundred and ten. Rey was working in the hangar, trying to get the hyperdrive on an old transport ship to function properly.

"What are you working on?" Kylo asked. By speaking he was letting her know that he was alone and could interact. If she replied back then he knew that she was also alone, but if she just gave him a far off look, he knew that either they would exist around each other without the ability to speak to one another, or she would excuse herself so they would have some privacy. Thankfully for his weary mind that missed the slightly husky tone of her voice, she looked up at him with determination on her brow.

"This bloody hyperdrive has gone out twice in the past month and I can't figure out why the conductors keep blowing."

He watched her with fascination. The women he grew up around would never be caught dead under a starship, let alone in coveralls and cursing in Shyriiwook. But his woman was, and he loved her all the more for it. "Perhaps we can work on something else for a while?"

Rey slid herself from under the transport and looked up at him, taking his hand as he pulled her up off the ground. He wasn't wearing gloves and when their hands touched the bond sang, which they both felt but didn't acknowledge.

"Were you able to get the parts on the list that I left you?" He didn't dare bring up the other part of the letter.

"Yeah," Rey wiped her hands on a red cloth before walking a few paces away, gathering a bin from a shelf in her work bay. "I was able to find almost everything for the casing, but most of the saber specific items like focusing lens and emitter matrix, I don't think that I will have access to."

"I'll see what you have and anything you are missing I will get for you," he offered, starting to rummage through the bin that she kept one hand on so he could interact with it.

Rey placed her other hand on her hip, looking around the hanger to make sure that she was really alone. Most of the fighters were out on a mission and the other mechanical staff was taking a much-needed break before the pilots came back and started barking orders about what needed to be repaired before the next mission. "Well, you can't very well send me a crate of lightsaber parts signed hugs and kisses, Kylo Ren."

"I would never end a letter with hugs and kisses," he scrunched his face at the thought of it.

"Wouldn't you though," Rey challenged with a smirk.

"You are insufferable, woman." Kylo went back to pulling items out of the bin and setting them on the metal work bench between them.

Smiling at their easy banter, Rey looked at the parts that he selected and listened intently as he started to instruct her through wiring the power cells to the field conductors and energy gates. "What am I to do about a crystal?" She asked as the smell of melting solder wafted between them.

"Do you still have Anakin's lightsaber?"

"You mean the _two pieces_ of Anakin's saber...yes I still have them," Rey answered only letting her gaze flicker up to him for a second before looking back down to her work.

"I think you should use that crystal. It called to you. It belongs to you as much as you belong to it."

"The crystal is broken, split in two." Rey realized that even though they had both been knocked out by the blast of the crystal coming apart, Kylo had not seen the damage they had done.

He watched her work for a long moment. "I wasn't trying to keep the saber..." he almost stumbled over his words. "Back in the throne room, I didn't want the saber." When her hazel eyes came up to meet his, his expression was open and vulnerable. "I was trying to keep _you_."

Rey sighed and set down the soldering iron, "I know...I know that now." She reached out and placed her hand over his, "I shouldn't have reacted like I did, but I was scared...scared of you, of our future, of what was next, and I just needed to run."

He gave her a tight lipped smile and nodded. He too knew that now, but when he woke alone in that damned room that smelled like death and ash, he had lashed out in the worst possible way and he was set to atone for it ever since.

Pulling up his other hand, Kylo reached for her face, pausing just before making contact, "May I?" He asked.

Rey looked from his face to his hand not sure what he was asking for. The confusion must have read in her expression because he explained. "I don't want to take anything from you or see anything you don't want me to. I just wanted to show you the design I had in mind for your saber." He looked down at the parts on the table and she could have sworn she saw a blush, "I'm shit at drawing and this is easier..."

Taking a large gulp of air and swallowing, Rey nodded.

His hand was warm against her face and he placed his two forefingers against her temple, before closing his eyes. Rey followed his example, closing her eyes and concentrated on the walls she had built up, but also welcomed the slight push from the Force.

It was not painful and didn't feel violating like on Starkiller. It felt like the gentle caress of a lover compared to how Snoke had ripped into her. But beyond the feeling of warmth that filled her body as his Force flowed into her, she was flooded with images of the most beautiful saber she had ever seen. Part of the vision that he push was not only detailed looks at the design but also an image of her, dressed in light gray robes running through forms like she had done dozens of times in the clearing.

"Beautiful," his voice sounded, seeing in his mind what he was passing to her. Rey, dressed in the finest robes, hair blowing wildly in the wind, as blue energy buzzed around her were images of his fantasies.

She felt his breath ghost over her and when she opened her eyes his face was mere inches from hers, their foreheads almost touching. "I love it," she said just above a whisper, feeling it would be a crime to break the sense of serenity that encompassed them.

"Me too," Kylo replied, pulling from her mind. His hand lingered on her face and his gaze drifted from her Force drunk eyes to her lips that were panting out breaths. Looking back up at her, his eyes screamed an unspoken question.

A wrench slid off the work bench and clattered to the floor, pulling Rey from her daze and she sat back into her stool. "I guess I will need to make two of everything then."

Kylo scratched at the back of his neck, feeling all of seventeen when he took the Princess of Datar to one of his mother's galas and attempted to steal a kiss from her at the end of the night. Back then he had stumbled through it, not knowing which way to turn his face and poking the poor princess in the eye with his oversized nose. He wasn't faring too well at thirty either it would appear.

The bond opened between them almost every day that following week. Perhaps the Force knew that Rey needed a way to protect herself and that she needed his help to safely construct the saber.

One night they worked on carefully extracting the broken crystals from Anakin's old lightsaber, Kylo explained that since Rey's weapon would be a saberstaff, that her blades would be shorter, so smaller crystals could be used. He regaled the story of the kyber crystal that fueled his saber, how he had been sent on a pilgrimage to Ilum in his late teens and was called to a brilliant blue kyber.

"But your blade is red and unbalanced," Rey mused as she continued to concentrate on wiring the vortex rings into place.

"The first saber I constructed, the one that protected me from my uncle's attack," he saw Rey's shoulder stiffen at the mention of the night that had changed everything for Ben Solo, but he continued, "it was simple, and had the clearest blue blade.

"When I fled the academy and went to Snoke, I trained with that saber for almost a year when the color started to change. The more I sunk myself into the Darkside of the Force, the more dark energy the kyber absorbed. By the time I was named Master of the Knights of Ren and donned my mask, the Lightsider hilt stuck out like a sore thumb and I was ready to rid myself of anything attached to the life of the weak and foolish Solo name.

"So I created a new hilt," he held out his cross guarded saber. "One more fitting to the term Knight, but when I was pulling my old kyber out, now a dark red having been bleed by the Darkness that grew within me, it cracked, hence the irregular blade."

"It's unstable," Rey picked up his saber, turning it over in her hands and feeling it's power. "Unbalanced."

Kylo for a moment was drawn back to the throne room when she had called his saber off of his hip, it had soared fast and true into her hands as if saying that yet another part of him was to bend to her whims. As he watched her small hands wrap around the black hilt, igniting the blade, and baring her teeth at his old Master, Kylo had wanted to come apart. But his mind had remained a blank plane of indifference for Snoke knew of his every intention.

But now, as his own Master, Kylo could fully admit that watching Rey weld his saber, his dark instrument that had ended so many lives, that had taken the life of his father…in that moment he wished nothing more than to throw himself at her feet and pledge his unwavering love and loyalty only to her. To rule at _her_ side for all of eternity, for it was Rey's strength and heart that any man would follow into battle. She was now the Master and him, her ever faithful servant.

Rey looked over at Kylo when he didn't reply to her observation and the look in his eyes was dark and longing, pleading and forgiving, desperate but careful. She couldn't deny what those looked did to her body...to her mind. One part of her wanted to say, to hell with the sabers and throw herself into his arms, allowing him to do whatever his dark gaze was begging for. But the other part of her, the part that was scared of not being enough, of being used and then tossed aside, that giant part of her that still took up camp in her mind, was the part that told her to do anything in order to put some distance between them and change the subject.

So she coughed and placed his saber back on the floor of her quarters, before going back to soldering. They worked in tense silence for another half hour and finally, Kylo had carefully pried the old kybers from their prior housings with very little chipping.

"Give me your hands," he instructed.

Rey abounded the hilts and held her hands out, palms up, and watched at Kylo placed one half of the kyber in each of her hands. His fingers were warm, as he folded her hands over the crystals. "Meditate. Feel their power. Let it run through you. Let it become a part of you. You and your crystals will forever be connected and they will never fail you if you keep that connection."

As she nodded, tight lipped and determined, Rey closed her eyes and gave herself over to the Force. Kylo leaned back and bathed in her light a little longer than what could be considered proper before he picked up her two matching hilts, inspecting her work.

Then the bond closed.

Kylo cursed, the major parts to her sabers were still in his hands half way across the galaxy. Rey wouldn't be pleased, but he was going to take this time to check them over and make sure that when she finally ignited them, they wouldn't blow her small but strong hands off.

He called to his metal smith, the one that was responsible for furnishing and maintaining all of the weapons used by the Knights. He described the purpose and design of the weapon to Malkolm and only gave him two days to complete any necessary tweaks or improvements. Kylo would have preferred to make the modifications himself, but he already had to put off two meetings to spend time with Rey in the bond.

When he received the hilts back they were just as rugged looking at Rey's quarterstaff. Kylo had considered plating rings of gold around the hilts or setting her switches with jewels, but also knew that anyone seeing such a lavish weapon hanging off the belt of a lowly Resistance fighter would start to ask questions.

So he assured that it looked as if it was made by her own hand, but the welds and wiring were up to Malkolm's perfectionist standards. As he held the two foot long double sided hilt in his hands, he noticed the smaller girth that would be more comfortable in her small hands.

Twisting the two pieces, they came apart into separate sabers and he mused that he would have to teach her how to fight two handed. Turing the hilts over he looked at the bases, where the two sides latched back together, he checked the custom work he had requested with the upmost discretion.

"This is perfect Malkolm. You have out done yourself again."

The elder man with a long white beard and dark robes bowed, "It is always a pleasure to serve my Master." His tone was dry, but he was loyal to a fault. "If I may be so bold sir. A saber hilt is a rather unorthodox way to woo a woman."

Kylo smiled to himself, "She's not a typical woman...she is my Empress." He nodded excusing Malkolm from the room, watching as the graying man bowed again before turning to exit Kylo's office.

He was still on Coruscant but was expected back on the _Finalizer_ the next day, having to travel to some Rim worlds that were still having issues with the cartels and drug runners. Holding her hilts in his hands, he itched to swing his own saber against a foe.


	4. Part IV

**Part IV**

It was day two hundred and twenty-five when the bond opened again. It had been an uncomfortable four days as Kylo nervously carried Rey's saber on his belt next to his own, not wanting to waste a moment in presenting it to her when he saw her next.

Thankfully it was night time and he was alone in his office on the _Finalizer_ when the bond opened. Rey looked up from her holopad as she sat crossed legged on her cot looking over the newest updates on the movements of the First Order.

Kylo stood from his chair the moment she came into focus.

"You took my sabers," Rey deadpanned, not really upset because neither one of them had control over when the bond would close. She was just terrified that one day she would be holding his helmet when it closed and she could imagine it being very difficult to explain why she had Kylo's mask in her quarters.

He smirked, knowing she was joking as she peeked one of her eyebrows at him. "I didn't mean to..."

Rey shifted on her bed and went to get the two kyber pieces out from the box that also held the letter that Kylo had written to her. "I'm guessing you couldn't help yourself and finished them."

She knew him too well, "I had help, but yes, all you have to do is place the crystals and secure the housing."

Being intrigued that he would let anyone else work on her saber, Rey was anxious to see it. "Well," she said coming back to the middle of the room, one kyber in each hand. "Don't keep me waiting."

Kylo shifted his hand behind his back and unhooked the joined hilt from his belt, letting it roll to the edge of his fingers as he presented it to her on flat palms. He watched her face with rapture, trying to read her reaction.

Rey's eyebrows came together and a slight frown set on her mouth as she reached out and took the two foot, double hilt from his hands.

"You don't like it," Kylo breathed, defeated.

"No, I do," Rey started, "it's just I expected more from you..."

His heart fell into the pit of his stomach. He had screwed up. He had let her down...again.

She watched him sink in on himself, run his fingers through his hair and start to pace, "I just figured because you are still here with the Resistance that you couldn't have anything too flashy." He turned back to her, "I can change it if you want me to. I can have it redesigned. Have it made from precious metals...anything you want Rey. Just name it and I will do it for you."

 _The poor boy_ , Rey mused to herself before she stepped up to him, placing her hand on the scar across his cheek. "You are right," she said softly. "It's perfect for where I am in life right now. Perhaps one day, when Rey the lost girl from Jakku becomes something different, I can reset my kybers into sabers more fitting to where this life takes me."

Kylo visibly relaxed, exhaling a large breath and he nuzzled into her hand that was still on his face. If she wanted to, Rey could have lifted on to her toes and easily brought her lips up to his downturned face, but instead, she blinked and release him, kneeling down on the floor and asking him to help her place the crystals.

Rey inspected the hilts further, the dark silver metal looked already battle worn and the slight dips and notches fit her hand perfectly. "What are these for?" She pointed to small nubs that came away from the hilt at forty-five-degree angles by the blade ends of the sabers.

"Just testing a theory," Kylo replied without really answering her question.

They worked for the next fifteen minutes securing the kybers into the focusing crystal chambers and then slid the hilt housings back into place. Rey looked down at her completed saberstaff in awe, never thinking she would have a weapon of her own.

"You should turn it on," Kylo whispered into the small space between them. He was just as excited to see his girl...his Empress with her lite saber, looking fierce, strong, and beautiful.

Rey nodded dumbly, still not being able to process the amazing machine that rested in her hands. This was a new era for Rey, not quite Jedi, never Sith, but in the between with Kylo...with Ben and she would wear her saber with pride. Coming to, she looked around her small quarters, "Not in here." She stood and even though it was the middle of the night she wanted to go to her clearing and ignite her saber for the first time under the stars. "Try to follow me the best you can," Rey knew that he would need to move around his environment to keep up. "We are going outside."

"I'll follow you though the Force," Kylo reassured.

He lost her a few time from his line of sight, but he could feel her through their bond and he easily found her after about a five minute walk. The lighting on her face was different and he could tell it was night time where she was as well. He thanked the Force when the room he ended up just happen to be his training room.

Rey stood in the middle of her clearing, feet shoulders width apart, with an overhand/underhand grip on the saber hilts. Her breathing was slightly labored and she looked from the saber up to Kylo, "Are you ready?"

He chuckled, "Are _you_ ready?" He asked in amusement. Rey looked like she was about to burst.

She resolved her expression and nodded, moving her hands apart a little more, thumbs over the ignition switches.

"Wait!" Kylo's voice rang out, making her jump out of her concentration. He held out a hand and a stopping gesture, "Use the Force…" He had added that modification to the sabers and wanted to see her fully connect to her weapon.

Her brows came together in consideration before she nodded again, closed her eyes, took in a calming breath, released it and the only sound was a startling double snap and hiss.

Kylo stood in amazement of her. Rey's face was bathed in blue and her eyes had shot open in surprise to the fact that she was able to light the sabers on the first try.

"They're…they're like yours..." Rey tone held no displeasure or resentment.

"The kyber was broken, cracked like mine. There was a high likelihood that the blades would be unstable."

Rey now saw what the extra nubs were for, small blue flames shot out from the exhaust ports. The design was different than Kylo's cross guards, but the function was the same, to release the extra pressure from the unstable crystals. She marveled at it for another long moment, before she spun it a few times in her hands.

The swinging blades crackled in the humid air and while she missed the steady hum of Anakin's saber, this one was hers, something damaged and thrown away made whole again. It was perfect. She wanted to run and hug Kylo for his part in all of this, he was showing that he trusted her with his life since he had just given her the only weapon that could truly kill him.

But instead, she spun the ignited staff around her back and then lunged down into a defensive position, looking up at him through her lashes and curling her finger in a come-hither manner.

Kylo balked and then smirked, "Are you sure you are ready for that sweetheart." His father's pet name for his mother slid from his lips before he could think better of it.

"What, are you scared?" Rey teased back.

"Of you...always." He preformed his signature windup, stepping out to the right as he pulled his saber from his belt and it snapped to life. The forest around them glowed blue and red, all three blades spit off droplets of energy, their buzz chaotic and unpredictable.

They stood five paces from one another and he waited for Rey to make the first move, she always had, and she didn't disappoint.

With a feral yell, Rey rushed across the dew-damp glass and brought her saber from behind her back in a downward slashing blow. Kylo blocked it easily, stepping back on his nondominant foot to absorb the power behind her attack.

Kylo and Rey traded blows and parries, blocks and twisting near misses, neither one knowing how long they had been going at it, but both were panting for breath and covered in sweat. He had caught her a few times, bring his saber to her throat and asking if she yielded. Each time the fire would be reset in her eyes and she full on front kicked him in the gut, reestablishing her stance before fighting on.

They didn't use the Force, just their combat training, or in Rey's case, her survival by fire training, to circle on another, each trying to get the upper hand. Locked once more in an intense spar, trading parries and blocks like their muscles weren't screaming at them to stop, they didn't notice the interloper.

"Rey!" Someone in the tree line called.

She turned in the direction of the voice and it all happened too fast for Kylo to stop. His saber was moving in a front stabbing motion, one that she could have easily deflected by side swiping her staff, but as she turned, her attention elsewhere, he tried to drive the blade to the right, away from her body.

Rey cried out in pain and turned back to her attacker, dropping her saber, the blades deactivated and she grabbing at her left upper arm with her right hand.

Kylo quickly turned off his saber as well, using the Force to clip it back onto his belt as he held his hand up, palms out towards Rey, "Oh Gods..." Kylo said as he watched her teeth clench, sucking in a hissing breath of pain. "Rey, I am so sorry..."

Without a word she turned away from him, "I'm fine Poe...you just startled me and I burned myself."

Poe looked down at the dark silver hilt in the grass and then back up to Rey, "You built a saberstaff."

"I did…" she said flatly. "It was about time that your Jedi had a lightsaber too, you know twirl for the new recruits and make them go 'ooh and ahh'." Rey wiggled her fingers in the air for effect before using the Force to call her saber to her left hand.

Kylo still stood behind her, his breath returning to normal but he didn't like that they were interrupted, by the pilot no less. He didn't like that Rey had called herself _his_ Jedi as if she belonged to Dameron or the Resistance. He didn't like how Rey was inferring that the Resistance was using her as a type of sideshow attraction to gain ranks. He didn't like any of it and if he could pull her through the bond to him with just a touch, he would have held on to her as if his life depended on it.

He refocused back on to the one-sided convention.

"I just finished it tonight and wanted to give it a test run..."

She threw her hands out to the side before hissing in pain again, pulling her hand back over the burn on the outside of her shoulder. "Does it look like there is anyone else out here with me? I was just running through forms."

This amused Kylo, trying to think what it would have looked like to an outsider, Rey going full force against an unseen opponent. Perhaps red sparks flying off into the dark night air as their blades met.

"I'm fine," Rey's voice cut again. "I can patch myself up, I have a med kit in my room."

Rey pointed out her hand as if telling Poe that he should lead the way when his back was to her, she looked over her shoulder at Kylo, his expression unreadable, but she dropped the hand from her wound and extend it behind her, asking him to follow.

The Force led him back to his quarters and Rey pulling on his hand, most likely dragging him into her room, she set her saber down on something low lying, her cot maybe, and she turned away from him, "I told you I'll be fine. I just need a shower and get some bacta on this burn."

Kylo already moved around his quarters, pulling out his med kit and setting out the needed items to treat a burn. It was the least he could do after marring her skin. "I'm sorry Rey," he said again, holding out his hand, hoping that she would join him and allow him to look at the angry red mark showing between her arm wraps and vest.

She took his outstretched fingers and sat on the edge of her cot. She found it quite poetic that he was the one now tending to her. It has been three months since Kylo had over turned the Senate and she had cleaned and bandaged the blaster shot to his forearm. "I know you didn't mean it. I shouldn't have allowed myself to be distracted."

He looked up at her through his thick dark lashes before starting to unravel the wraps from her arms. They were almost soaked through with her sweat, but he didn't mind, he hoped for a future of continuously unwrapping her from sweaty situations. He swallowed thickly as his finger tips grazed against her heated skin, but despite how warm she felt, gooseflesh bloomed on her skin as he lightly touched from the inside of her elbow and down her forearm, stroking the pad of his thumb across the pulse point at her wrist when the wrap fell away.

With her free hand, Rey worked at the buttons of her vest but hissed when she tried to roll it off her shoulders.

"Here, let me," Kylo offered, pulling her good arm out first and then with the most care, slid the garment down her left arm, avoiding the injury. She sat before him in a white sleeveless wrap tunic, which was almost transparent with the moisture of her exertion. He could see the lines of her breast band and he had to quickly advert his eyes as he watched her chest rise and fall with each of her deep breaths.

Opening his med kit he pulled out gauze and saline. "This is going to hurt," he knew from experience, even a grazing saber burn would sting like hell. He apologized again as he blotted at her wound with the cool liquid on the soft woven cotton square. Leaning in towards her, he blew across her skin, drying the area so he could dress it.

Rey visibly shivered and when he turned his head to hers, his lips still pursed as his warm breath ghosted across her shoulder, he noticed that her pupils were blown and she was panting out breath harder than when they had been sparing. "I'll give you something for the pain," he reassured, refusing to believe that she would be looking at him like that for any other reason apart from her discomfort.

He made quick work of adhering a bacta patch over the one by two-inch burn. Pulling a small one dose syringe for the med kit he pulled the cap off between his teeth, "This will sting, but it will allow you to get some sleep tonight."

Rey was finally able to breathe but did flinch when the small needle broke her skin and the medicine burned on its way in. "If you had pain killers, why didn't you let me use them on you?"

"Never used them before, didn't see a point in starting now." He threw the empty syringe onto the pile of gauze and bandage wrappers.

"I've never had them either...I once had a broken foot, back on Jakku, and had to sprint it myself before going back to work the next day." She had never shared much of her time back on Jakku with him, she was aware that he knew her upbringing was rough, but they mostly discussed the future these past few months.

"Well, I don't like seeing you in pain...pain that I inflicted..." he looking up at her face, seeing a slightly annoyed expression. "Even if it was inflicted unintentionally."

The exhaustion and the medication were starting to set in and she still needed to shower before going to bed, so she decided to let his comment go, not feeling like getting into a fight with him after he was being so sweet. So she conceded, "Thank you, Kylo. For everything."

"Anything...always..." he stumbled over his words before he tried to suppress the heat growing in his ears. "I still wish you would call me Ben...when it's just us."

Rey shifted on her cot, "I'm getting there...soon...I promise."

Gods he wanted to reach out and just take her face in his hands and pour everything he had into her, but he couldn't, not while he was still Kylo to her. So instead he just sat back on his heels, "You need a shower and I don't know how much longer the bond is going to hold out, so why don't you just pass me one of the Jedi texts and I'll read until I'm pulled away."

Rey chewed on her lip. They had never intentionally parted when they were alone in the bond. It felt like a waste of their connection to just go into the other room and not get the most out of the time they had together, but she was tired and the drying sweat was making her uncomfortable, so she agreed.

Maybe it was the morphine, or the gift of her saber, or a combination of all the parts of their growing bond and relationship over the past seven and a half months, but as she rocked forward to stand and retreat to her fresher, Rey leaned into his space and placed a quick kiss to right cheek, directly over her mark.

In stunned silence he sat frozen and watched her disappear behind the fresher door. She had forgotten to get him a book but he could have cared less. Using the Force he pulled his couch next to where she had been seated, right where her saber sat, just floating in mid-air. He looked at it for a moment, wondering why it was still visible in his environment, but not wanting to lose the elated feeling of her lips on his skin, he lounged back on his couch and closed his eyes, reliving the half a second that would be burned into his memory forever.

The bond opened in brief moments over the next month. Sometimes Rey would be sitting at supper when Kylo in full battle wardrobe would come swinging through the mess hall, face covered by his fearsome mask, calling out orders to his Knights before cutting down another foe. The two times that the bond had opened during one of his mission, Rey had jumped in her seat with a loud 'eek!' but had just passed her outburst off on seeing a mouse scamper across the floor.

She didn't know what to make of Kylo when he was like that. Following the First Order's advances in the cartel-run Outer Rim on the holonet, Rey knew that he wasn't cutting down villages of innocents, but there was something about watching him in command, leading his men at the front, that both scared her and excited her at the same time.

Rey practiced with her saber almost every day. Perhaps thinking that sometime in the future she would fight at his side again. Their victory in the throne room had been the complete doing of the Force, and the next time she had to fight for her life, or his life for that matter, she wanted to be prepared with technique and agility rather than the scrappy luck that allowed her to survive up until this point.

Many times their connections were just Rey and Kylo walking past each other on their way to a variety of responsibilities held by the Supreme Leader and the Beacon of Hope for the Resistance.

On one of these passing, Kylo moved around her, down a long hallway on the _Finalizer_ , only tilting his helmet in regards. Rey turned to look behind her, watching his long sweeping robes sway with his lumbering steps, his fists were clenched at his side. But looking down into her hand, she saw a folded piece of parchment.

 _You are extending your nondominant foot too far back on high blocks and it is taking too much time to re-center yourself before your next attack. Also, protect your truck, wouldn't want someone to kick you in the chest._

Rey scoffed at his jab at one of her signature moves, having planted her foot on Kylo's middle a few times now. She also was a little down trodden with a note critiquing her saber forms, even if he was the only other person in the galaxy that could teach her, and she gave him credit for penning the note in his own hand and not some print out from a dataport.

Looking to the print below the crease of the paper, Rey attempted to hold her smile at bay. She was standing in the middle of the hangar and people milled all around her, but her insides felt like they were floating.

 _But you are beautiful and I would gladly watch your horrible forms for the rest of my days._

 _Always yours,_

 _B_

She read the note over a few times before tucking it into her jumpsuit, planning to put it with the other in the wooden box at the back of her dresser drawer.

They had meetings like that every few days, connected for a few seconds and up to a minute, but never being able to speak more than a few fleeting words to each other.

Rey was under that same damned transport craft again, this time working on the landing gear when she felt the bond open. Looking down at her feet that stuck out from under the ship, she saw the large black boots of Kylo. In a move that made her laugh, he bent his large form in half attempting to peek down at her, before finally crouching down to gaze at her grease slugged face.

His mask was on, but she could almost feel his smirk behind the layers of metal. He tilted his head in the way that she now found endearing. Reaching a gloved hand into a pocket on his surcoat, he produced a small box, perhaps not even two inches squared, tied with a light purple ribbon and another piece of folded parchment was tucked under the bow.

Kylo reached out and placed the box gently on her flat stomach, releasing it and the box became materialized in her world. Feeling brave, as he stood, Kylo ran his leather covered fingers up the incline of her thigh, losing contact with her as they came away from her bent knee. He stood and then was gone.

Rey's breaths came harder, the small box jostling under the movements of her abdomen in an attempt to get more air. These brief moment, even when there were no words, seemed to burn her alive with the intimacy of them. She felt as if they had the most important conversations about the galaxy and their place in it, without uttering a sound to one another.

Quickly moving from under the craft, Rey tucked the box into her tunic and shut herself away in a supply closet, unable to wait until after her shift was up to see what was inside. She looked at it at first as if it would explode if she opened it, not knowing what to expect from a gift from Kylo Ren.

Not knowing it was accustomed to read the card before opening the gift, Rey pulled at the purple ribbon, tucking the soft velvet string into her pocket. Removing the lid to the small white and purple box Rey's eyes went wide. Inside rested four of the most beautiful little candies that she had ever seen. The only exposure to sweets was what was provided in rations and she had tried a piece of birthday cake a few months back, but it was made from ingredients that were on hand and was dry and somehow bitter.

But these little confections looked like they were painstakingly made by the hands of a crafted master. She wanted to tear into them, shove all of them in her mouth at once, but instead slid the lid onto the bottom of the box and shuffled for the note, opening it almost too quickly to read his words within.

 _These were some of my favorite sweets from when I was a boy. They come from a little bakery in Hanna City on Chandrila. One day I will take you there and you can sample one of everything._

 _Always your,_

 _B_

Rey looked back down to the small truffles, stroking each one of them lovingly. He was opening up to her. Kylo never talked about his time before the academy. He was giving her more and more pieces of himself. So with resolve, she replaced the lid and told herself that she would wait to try the sweets until she was alone in her quarters or for when the bond connected them for more than a few seconds and she could share the treats with him.

The next item to come into her hand was a specialty socket. She had looked down at the small metal piece with confusion before reading the note.

 _Tools for those Old Republic ships can be hard to find._

 _Fly safe._

 _Always your,_

 _B_

* * *

 **AN: So I've had a really horrible week so far with work and your comments really are a bright spot in my day, so keep them coming. I decided to put up the next part for your viewing pleasure because you love for Reylo makes me so very happy. I don't want to get too far a head since I am still working on Part VIII, but I'll try to get some other parts up this week too.**

 **Thanks for the love in advance! It saves this writer's soul.**


	5. Part V

**Part V**

It was day two hundred and fifty-five and Rey was standing in an abandoned corridor on the base. Kylo sat splayed out and relaxed in front of her, he only sat like that on his throne and his face rested in his hands. Rey remembered a saying she read a few weeks back, heavy is the head that wears the crown.

He sat up a little straighter in his chair when he felt her come in through the bond. Not knowing how long they had, he stood and shifted to the side of the massive throne, opening a small compartment built into one of the arms and pulled out a medium side package wrapped in plain brown paper. He passed it to her with a deep bow of his head. "For you."

As soon as Rey's hands touched the package he disappeared and she was left holding the rough brown wrapping paper in her hands. Tucking the package under her arm, she went to her quarters to open it in privacy.

She had learned now to read the note before seeing what was within the small gifts.

 _One day I plan to wrap you in silks, lace, and the finest linens, but for now, I only want you to stay warm._

 _Winter is coming and I eagerly await to see your cheeks rosy with the bite of the cold._

 _Always your,_

 _B_

She traced his words a few times before setting the note down on her dresser and tearing into the brown paper. Within was a deep muted green knitted cowl. Picking it up in her hands, she feel the quality of the wool, soft and dense, not scratchy like many of the other fabrics offered in her current situation. It was long enough to come down below her bust line and slanted to the left, to cover her arm she suspected. The right side of the garment was cut shorter, and she mused that it was to keep her saber arm free. The neck of the cowl billowed, large enough to create a hood to come up over her head.

Rey had never owned anything so fine before, and although the color wasn't flashy or the material extravagant, it was perfectly her, and unassuming enough to not draw attention by the other Resistance fighters. Bringing the garment up to her face, she took in a deep inhale. It smelled like him and she missed that scent. The pillow he had left for her stopped smelling like him months ago and she was too embarrassed to ask him to trade another with her so that she could be surrounded by his warmth each night.

It was only six days later that the bond connected and stayed open. Day two hundred and sixty-one was upon them and Rey was relaxing in her quarters after supper with her friends. She was in a light mood, having spent the last hours laughing at Finn's antics.

Rey sat up in her bed and they just looked at each other for a long moment, waiting for the bond to fizzle back out but when it didn't, she smiled up at him, "Hi."

He relaxed, shoulders coming down some and he smiled back, "Hey."

She got up and moved over to her dresser, picking up the small box of sweets and coming to stand before him. Reaching out her free hand, she wrapped her fingers around his and sunk to the floor, pulling him with her.

Sitting on the floor was usually easiest, as they didn't have to move furniture around their environments, even though Rey had taken to keeping a small stool in her room for that exact purpose.

Pulling the lid off the box, his face dropped, "You didn't like them?"

Rey smiled, "I thought we could try them together."

Kylo hoped they were still good, as he had given them to her over a week ago, but usually, chocolates kept well.

"Tell me about them," Rey asked as she held out the box again.

He shifted his position, sitting crossed legged and got comfortable. "Well, this one…" he pulled a dark chocolate piece out that was dusted the cocoa powder. "Is the most bitter of the bunch, but the middle makes up for it."

Holding the truffle out for her, Rey didn't take it from him, just leaned forward, bitting it in half and her lips drug against his finger tips. She chewed for a moment before smiling. "What is that?"

"Marshmallow," he said in a dry voice, the sensation of her mouth on him went straight to his groin and he had to shift again. "Do you want the rest?" He offered selfishly, wanting her lips to come around his fingers again.

"No, you eat it. These are your favorites and I don't want to have all the fun."

Kylo nodded and then popped the other half of the treat into his mouth. "Which one next?"

Rey pointed to another dark one with clear crystals dotting the top. This time she picked it up and studied it. "Good choice," Kylo said.

She took a bite out of it and straight up moaned, "Oh my Gods! I might just be in heaven. What is this?" Her tone was joyful and for the first time in over a month, she felt truly happy.

"Salted caramel," Kylo said with a smile, loving seeing the delight across her face. Before he could react, she was holding the other half up to him between her thumb and forefinger. Leaning forward he wrapped his full lips around her fingers, pushing his long tongue between them and using it to drag the chocolate into his mouth.

Rey's breath caught in her throat and she was now the one shifting uncomfortably as heat pooled in her belly.

The next two when about the same, one was filled with crunchy toffee and the other vanilla cream. In the end, Rey had grabbed his wrist as he pulled his hand away from her lips and she placed his thumb back into her mouth, licking off the melted chocolate and some of the cream that had seeped from the liquid center.

She groaned at the sweetness of the candies mixed with the taste of his skin. Her eyes shot open as Kylo gave off a pained moan and she didn't know if she should be scared or flattered by the intense and needy look on his face.

Still not quite sure what to do in this instance, or not knowing if she wanted to do anything about the heated aura that pulsed around them, she released his wrist and folded her hands in her lap, squeezing her fingers together to stop them from reaching back out to him.

Kylo pulling his hands back too, lifting one behind him and kneading at the stiff muscles at the back of his neck, "So have you uh..." he closed his mouth and swallowed, "tried your saber as a two-handed weapon?" In all the times he had watched her train, it was always was the saber as a staff.

"What?" Rey asked in confusion. She used two hands with her staff all the time.

Kylo's eyes went wide with the realization that she didn't know the saber came apart to create two weapons. This also meant that she had not seen the custom work he had commissioned for the base of the hilts.

Rey was already reaching out with the Force to call her saber to her hand. She held it just over her lap studying the seam at it's middle, having always thought it was part of the design and not functional. She looked up at him with wonder in her eyes, "They come apart?"

He just nodded in confirmation as he watched Ray work to separate the two pieces of the saberstaff. Kylo had hoped that he wouldn't be around when she found his other little gift to her, but it seems he would have to sit there patiently while she discovered another piece of his soul.

Finally figuring out the push and twist locking mechanism that held the two sabers together, Rey lit up with the elation as the staff became two."This is amazing," Rey beamed as she turned the sabers over in her hands, now inspecting where they came together. "What's this?" She asked seeing pea-sized stones set into the recessed bases of the hilts.

Kylo squirmed in place again knowing that he would have to fully explain the little detail. Rey stared down at the bases little harder, holding the two next to each other before turning her face towards him, her eyes asking for an explanation. "Diamonds are forged under pressure, in the darkest of places. But once they are unearthed, they shine with the light of a million stars and are the most precious of things in the galaxy."

Rey squinted her eyes to read the inscription circled the stone. " _Across the stars…"_

Kylo took in a deep breath before continuing, "The ruby represents home, the heart, passion… love."

Her eyes shot up to his at the mention of that last word before her gaze came back to the saber reading the script around the blood red stone. " _You are my home._ "

"Oh Ben," she whispered with tears in her eyes. Shifting her position forward and rolling up onto her knees Rey threw her arms around his neck.

Kylo...Ben staggered in surprise but quickly circled his arms around her back, returning the gesture. She sniffled into the crook of his neck and he gently stroked the curve of her back in the most comforting manner he knew how.

After a long moment in the awkward position, Ray pulled back so that she could look at his face. Hers was red and tear stained and in that moment she didn't care. Her sabers were still clutched in her hands, crossing each other between his shoulder blades."Thank you," she said between hiccups as tears still slid from her glassy hazel eyes.

Ben shifted his hands, one resting upon her hip as the other came up to wipe tears from her face. "It doesn't matter if we are in the same room or if we are universes apart, you will always be my home and you will always hold my heart. There will never be anybody but you."

Rey studied his face for just a brief second before she released the sabers in her hands, hearing them clatter to the floor behind him. In the next instance, she held his face between her small hands, pulling him towards her, breathing out one last shaky breath before their lips met.

His large hand still cupped her right cheek, his thumb grazed her delicate skin as her lips moved softly against his. When her tongue ran against his parted lips and she moaned into the kiss, his hold onto her hip tightened and he pulled her towards him.

She moved as he directed her, sliding over him until she was situated in his lap. His lips tasted of chocolate and she drove her tongue between them to taste more of him. Rey's hands now desperately griped the curled hair at the base of his neck. Attempting to envelop herself into him.

Kylo wrapped his arms completely around her, pulling her so close that her back bowed in order to keep their mouths together. He lavished the sweetness of her lips thinking that he would feed her chocolates and whisper the most delicate of words to her every day before feasting on her. Unwilling as he was, Kylo broke away from her in order to take in a much-needed breath, but then started his open mouth assault on her jaw and neck. His name, his given name, fell from her lips and was the sweetest torture.

Rey's nimble fingers moved from his shoulders and started to work at the clasps at the front of his surcoat. Something primal and deep inside her was telling her that she needed to feel more of his heated flash against hers.

Just as his large calloused palm found the underside of her tunic and slid firmly to her lower back, pulling her hips in closer to his, the bond snapped shut. Rey shrieked not only at the loss of contact and warmth, but also she was left free-falling almost a foot right onto her backside. Her arms shot out behind her in an attempt to help break her fall.

She sat in this reclined position for a long while. Contemplating the new level that she had brought their relationship. Her lips were swollen, her pupils blown, her heart rate and a wetness had seeped in between her thighs.

Just like when they had been interrupted in Rey's hut on Ahch-To, Kylo's hands lingered, suspended before him as if he concentrated hard enough, he could still feel the soft skin of her back under his fingertips. His brain, heart, and lungs seem to start working again all at the same time, rushing through what had just transpired between Rey and himself.

She was receptive of his gifts, even moving her to tears. She had embraced him and then beyond his wildest dreams, she had brought her lips to his. She was not disgusted or mocking of his feelings. She had not pulled away or rejected him. She had appeared to need him just as desperately as he needed her.

Looking down upon himself, Kylo noticed half of his surcoat hung open and a very noticeable bulge situated in his lap. His mind swam with the idea of Rey undressing him and he was almost apprehensive to think of how far they would have gone together if the bond had not intervened.

For now, though, all he could do to provide his keyed up body some relief was to take himself in hand, thinking about Rey's sweet lips upon his. As he pumped himself harder, the fantasy that he shifted to was the glorious feeling of her lips and tongue working against his thick fingers. He whispered his Empress' name out into the dark confines of his quarters when he reached his climax.

When Rey finally felt steady enough to stand on her own two feet, she collected her saber hilts from the floor, looking down again at the beautiful words that were meant only for her. With a snap and click, she latched the two pieces back together before setting the staff back onto her dresser. Taking out her nightclothes she moved to the fresher, still feeling like she needed relief for her overheated body.

While she was still innocent and slightly naïve to intimacies between a man and a woman, her twenty standard years in the galaxy had not been void of self-gratification. The cool water felt heavenly over her body but soon her desire demanded heat. The same heat that rolled off of Ben in waves.

Turning the dial again, the scolding water left her skin pink and heated. She worked her hand down between her thighs, rubbing and stroking in a manner that she knew would bring her over the edge. With her head thrown back and his name still on her swollen lips, Rey called her orgasm out to the stars.

The next few weeks were a whirlwind of activity. Kylo was finishing up his campaign to rid the Rim Systems of the oppressive cartels and spice runners. Rey was still existing in her mundane life of training, meditating, and fixing spacecrafts.

The one highlighted moment within the Resistance was the announcement of Finn and Rose's engagement. Rey had been subjected to Rose gushing over the simple ring Finn had presented to her. It was frustrating for Rey to hear the proposal story retold time and time again, all the while she had a declaration of love from the most powerful man in the galaxy hanging on her hip and she could not utter a word of it to anyone.

After a few failed missions, the Resistance was due for some good news and Finn and Rose provided that in spades. Unfortunately, that feeling of hope and normalcy disappeared on day two hundred and eighty-five when 3PO went to deliver the General's breakfast, it was discovered that she had passed away in her sleep.

A dense and dark fog settled over the Resistance base. High Command held an emergency meeting to discuss the order of promotion. Rey was not privy to any of these meetings so instead, she sat alone in her quarters and wept for the only mother figure she had ever known.

The bond snapped open more violently than it ever had and Kylo frantically looked around the small room attempting to sense for any danger. He had felt a disturbance within the Force and was been deathly worried about Rey all morning.

She sat, curled up upon herself, on her cot. Her face was tear-stained, blotchy, and her nose was raw. Kylo immediately moved to her, sliding to his knees in front of her and gripping at her hands that were wrapped around her shins.

"Rey," he called out to her, attempting to get her far off gaze to focus on him. He reached out with a shaking hand and laid it on her cheek, taking one of her many tears under the pad of his thumb. "I felt a ripple, a disturbance in the Force and I was so worried that something happened to you." Now with her focus back on him, Kylo attempted to check her body over for injury the best he could with her curled position.

Seeing no apparent outwardly wounds, Kylo's eyes came back up to hers, his expression pleading for answers to the feeling that woke him suddenly in his bed and her current state of hysterics.

Rey took in a long steady breath, her diaphragm spasming from the morning of tears and her exhale came out in small spurts. Knowing Kylo's sorted history with his parents, but not feeling this was a time for careful words, Rey did nothing to appease his normal state of denial towards his maternal connection to the General. She just took in another shaky breath before stating the words she never wanted to deliver to him. "Your mother died last night."

Kylo's expression was unreadable, an overall feeling of nothingness falling over his features. He sat back on his heels as if his body no longer possessed the strength to hold him in his kneeling position. After a few moments, he could no longer hold Rey's saddened gaze and his line of sight dropped off into the void.

"Ben I'm so sorry. The doctor said she didn't suffer."

Without raising his eyes and not even knowing the words were moving from his lips he said, "How did it happen?"

Rey now shifted her position and knelt on top of her cot feeling the intense need to touch and comfort him. "They think she had a stroke in the middle of the night. There was nothing that could be done and the doctors assured us that she passed peacefully in her sleep."

He gazed off for a few more moments before his resolve reappeared and his now hard gaze shifted to her. "I need to inform my counsel. We should make a move on the Resistance now before they have a chance to regroup."

Rey felt as if she had been slapped in the face. During all of their connections, they had never discussed any First Order movements against the Resistance. It wasn't that they were in denial to the fact that they were on different sides of the war, but mostly when they talked about politics it was Kylo getting her opinions on running the galaxy, even though she was worlds away and hadn't officially agreed to join him in his pursuit.

"Ben," Rey tried to refocus him. "Your mother has just died…you're allowed to take a moment to grieve."

"I want to end this war once and for all." His expression was softer now, almost pleading. "Only once this war is over can we truly become what we were meant to be."

Rey pulled a face before speaking, "And what exactly were we meant to be?"

"First and foremost we are supposed to be together."

"We've talked about this Kylo. We can't be any more than this until after the fighting has ended."

He pulled at the roots of his hair in frustration. "Which is precisely what I am trying to do. Without my mother's leadership and the backing of the famous Leia Organa, the Resistance is sure to fall." He grabbed at her hands again and looked at her desperately, "Do you even know what they are fighting for anymore?"

Rey was taken aback again. After many of their late-night discussions about Kylo's ideas for the New Order, Rey wasn't sure where her loyalties aline. She was torn between the love of her friends and the love of the broken man before her.

"You belong at my side, being my light, guiding the galaxy, and ushering in a new era of peace. With our powers, we have a responsibility to protect those who cannot protect themselves. You of all people should know that."

"Being connected to the Force does not give us the right to assume dictatorships." Rey pulled her hands from his.

He watched as she stood from her cot and started to pace the room angrily. He also stood but remained stationary, watching her movements with his dark eyes. "The Force gives us the ability to be conduits of change. The Force works through us and brought us together because the galaxy needed change." She had stopped pacing in order to look at him after his speech and he was not going to waste an opportunity when she was willing to listen. "I don't want us to rule the galaxy forever just long enough to make the right changes so that it can self sustain peace for longer than our generation."

Rey thought about his words for a long moment, her gaze shifting from the floor and back up to his face. "So our children will not have a throne thrust upon them? They will not be expected to rule?"

Ben felt as if he had been punched in the gut and had his mind swept, all in one move. It wasn't that he never thought of a future with Rey that included children, but it was the fact that she believed in the same future as him, that had him wanting to fall to his knees before her. "They can be accountants for all I care, but if the Force calls to them, they will want to help people…they will want to do what is right."

Rey really hated it when he was logical and was being the man she always hoped he would become. She was unable to argue with him if he was saying everything that she already wanted. She sighed in defeat, throwing her limp arms out to her sides as she spoke, "Command is meeting as we speak to appoint a new General. I think that orchestrating an attack on the Resistance now, in the wake of your mother's passing, would just stoke the fire. Plus the holonet will expect you to be in mourning and not bloodthirsty for your mother's people."

Ben sighed as well, knowing that she was right. His parentage had been made public shortly after he assumed the title Supreme Leader. He suspected that Hux had leaked the information in order to discredit Kylo Ren as a true supporter of the First Order. Of course, the plan had failed miserably as it was publicized that the Skywalker blood that ran through his veins also belonged to Vader.

He tentatively approached her, reaching his hands out to touch her face. When she did not recoil from him, he caressed her cheeks and tilted her head up to his. "This is why you are my Empress, my home, my heart."

"So you won't order the attack?" Rey whispered in the small space between them.

He smiled down at her hopeful face, "Not today and not any time soon..."

This was about as much as Rey could ask of him. She knew that one day, under the leadership of someone more fanatical than Leia, that Kylo would be provoked into retaliation. But today was not that day...today Rey just held a boy that had lost his mother.

With everything within him, Ben wanted to feel her lips upon his again, but right now he just pulled her to him, burying his face into her shoulder, her hair tickling his cheek. They stayed like this for awhile, even sinking down to the floor so that Rey didn't have to strain with their difference in height.

As Rey held him, stroking his thick black hair, she started to hum a song from a distant memory. It was a lullaby of sorts and Rey couldn't place where she had heard it before, but as she got to the third verse, Ben gripped her tighter and his shoulders shook with silent sobs.

Ben was taken back to being a young boy. Back before his father left to continue his smuggling career and before his mother became too busy with the Senate. Before his father failed to try to connect with his son and his mother became scared of his budding power and temper.

Back when he had been terrified of the voice in his head and would slip into his parent's room. While his mother had not formally trained as a Jedi, she was just as strong with the Force, and she would wrap her light around him like a security blanket. As she held him, rocking slightly back and forth, she would hum a song from a different era.

It hit him that he would never be able to reach out and feel his mother's Light ever again. He never reconciled with her, they never meet on an equal front, she would never know that he had learned to love, to put someone else's wants and desires before him own. She would never see how happy Rey had made him. She would never see the good that he was doing in the galaxy.

He gripped Rey even tighter, perhaps afraid that he would leave bruises on her back from his deep digging fingers. He wept again, Rey shushed him in a gentle way, saying comforting words about Leia being one with the Force and reunited with her mother…father…brother…husband.

Rey didn't know that her words were reminding him just how alone he was, no longer having any blood family left. What he would regret the most was not being able to tell his mother that he didn't hate her. That he didn't disagree with all of her beliefs. That he was thankful for the opportunities his pedigree afforded him. That he was sorry for the academy…and for Han.

Before he could fully think through his words, they passed his lips, "Rey, come to me. Please."

* * *

 **AN: Y'all are amazing and make my heart so happy. I'm glad that you are enjoying our love birds and are getting the growing love and trust of Kylo and Rey that we won't get in the movies.**

 **Your comments are amazing and make me want to pour more of this story out of my head!**

 **As always, thanks to my Muse for putting up with me.**


	6. Part VI

**Part VI**

Six days…Rey had six days to come up with a reason to leave Dantooine. The night after Leia's passing, she had snuck into the General's quarters and collected some personal items to return to Ben. She didn't want strangers to go through Leia's things…her family should be able to keep what was important.

As she stood in the well lived in quarters, Rey felt a sense of home, much the same as what she felt in the bond with Ben. She didn't have much time but looked for items that would have been kept closest to the General.

A ring, a large nebula opal set in dark gold, sat in a small dish on her bed side table, right next to a photo and Leia and Han, the General perhaps just a few years older than Rey. She was a beauty in white, her brown hair was plaited into a crowing braid, soft ringlets carried over her shoulders.

 _Her wedding day perhaps,_ Rey mused to herself seeing the opal ring set upon Leia's third finger on her left hand. She set the photo next to the ring on a plush looking cot and then turned and walked to the General's desk.

What was scattered on top were mostly Resistance documents, at times Leia was old fashioned and didn't trust technology. Rey saw an old ink well writing set and she wondered if Ben had penned her letters with something similar. She then pulled at a few drawers and found a well worn red leather bond book.

Picking out the book, it bulged with the bulk of extra papers being kept between the pages. Pulling a band from around the book, Rey flipped through the pages before snapping it shut again. It appeared to be the General's private diary. She bit her lip trying to think of what to do with it, before coming to the conclusion that she would let Ben make that decision.

She picked up a few other things, namely a silver plated hairbrush, a gold looking medallion with a flower and sun engraved into it, and a small painting, no bigger than the pieces of parchment that Ben wrote her letters on.

Collecting the items, Rey slid back out of the quarters and started to walk down the hall but froze in her tracks.

"Hey!" A female voice called. "What were you doing in there?"

It was Major Connix, newly promoted since Poe was now General. Rey cursed under her breath and shifted the bag on her shoulder, "I was um…uh…" She thought about just turning and running as the young but fierce looking blonde approached her with long determined strides.

"No one is allowed in the late General's quarters, even a Jedi," there may have been a slight sneer to her voice. "By orders of General Dameron."

Trying to think quickly and not wanting to use physical measures to overtake the other woman, Rey thought back to her time Starkiller and also the lessons that Ben had been giving her in wielding her Force powers. She relaxed her mind, opened herself up to the Force, made eye contact with Kaydel and stated plainly, "You didn't see me coming out of the General's quarters."

"I didn't see you coming out of the General's quarters," Connix mimicked.

She bit at her lip, thinking that perhaps this was her chance to get off-world, even if she was using her Jedi powers for manipulation. "You have approved me to go off-world," she paused for just a breath, trying to come up with a good enough excuse that the rest of command would believe. "Concerning matters of the Force follow Leia's death."

Kaydel repeated the phrases again, under Rey's trance. Being the only Force sensitive person on the base, people sometimes gave her a wide berth. When she wanted to be alone she would make up something about the Force and since no one knew better, her actions weren't questioned. "You will come to once I exit the hall," Rey finished her compulsion before turning and walking at a hurried pace.

Rey made it back to her quarters in record time, throwing some more of her personal belongings into a slightly larger bag than the one that held Leia's belongings, she picked up her saberstaff and then turned towards the door, almost jumping out of her skin. "Ben," she breathed, clutching her hand over her heart. "You scared the ever loving bantha shit out of me."

His gaze shifted quickly between her face and the sack thrown over her shoulder, "You're really coming?" He asked almost in disbelief.

"I told you I would," Rey said, catching her breath and squaring her shoulders. "But I don't even know where we are going."

"Mygeeto," Ben answered quickly. "It's in Sector K5, along the same hyperspace lane as Dantoonie."

Rey faltered for a moment, "You know where I am? Where the Resistance is?"

Ben shifted on his feet, decent enough to at least look ashamed of himself. "I've known for about six months now..."

"And you didn't think to tell me?" Rey's voice rose.

He now reached out his hands in defense, "If I would have told you that I knew, the Resistance would have moved and I would have to find you all over again. At least with me knowing, I could get to you in case you needed me." She still didn't look satisfied. "No one else in the First Order knows...just me."

She pressed her lips tightly, knowing that he was right but still didn't like being lied to. Getting ready to say something in reply, he stepped towards her, placing his large hands on her small shoulders. "I needed you to _want_ to come to me, not out of fear for your friends or to avoid retaliation...I needed you to want me...us."

Squinting her eyes up at him, she wagged a finger in his face, "You are lucky I love you, Ben Solo," before she brushed around him and exited her quarters.

Ben was shocked into stillness for a moment, before he went after her, sliding into the hall much how he had after their first connection, "You love me?" He called in desperation out to her.

Rey stopped in the hall and looked over her shoulder, giving him a cheeky smile. "I'll see you soon, Ben."

The only person she ran into on her way to the hangar was Rose. "Going some place?" Her small friend asked, peeking into the transport craft that was being keyed up for flight.

"Yeah..." she spun the tale in her mind, not wanting to influence Rose, but she needed to be believed. "I'm going back to the temple on Ahch-To. I need to make sure that Leia's soul is settled in the Force. I've already cleaned it with Kaydel...I mean Major Connix."

Rose gave a soft smile. The entire base had been in mourning since the General's passing. Without a body to bury a lot of them were still seeking closure, including their own resident Jedi. "I wish you would let someone go with you...Kylo Ren still has a price on your head."

Rey wanted to blush or out right bark out a laugh, but pushed it down, wondering what Rose would say if she knew that Rey was running into the arms of the very man that put the bounty out on her. "You know I can take care of myself...and this is something I need to do. Perhaps I'll even see her Force ghost."

"Well if you do, tell her that if Finn and I ever have a baby girl, we are going to name her Leia Rey after the two greatest women we know."

"That's very sweet of you guys," Rey said almost with tears in her eyes, but also looked down her friend's body, wondering if there was already a life form growing in the tiny woman's womb. Shaking the thought from her mind, she moved around in the small transport's cargo bay, "Well I need to be getting off if I want to avoid traffic in the hyperspace lanes."

"Send us a hale when you are on your way back," Rose waved her off as she watched the hull door roll up and lock shut with a hiss.

So on day two hundred and ninety-one, almost ten months after Crait and since seeing Ben in person on the _Supremacy_ , Rey left Dantooine in route to the crystalline planet of Mygeeto.

Punching in the coordinates that Ben had given her, it was calculated that the trip wouldn't take long. The two sectors were caddy corner to each other, but the hyperspace lane swept out to reach a few other systems in a neighboring sector. So she sat in the pilot's seat and watched the blue streaks of stars fly past her, settling in for the journey that would take her about a half a day.

Riding the Braxant Run was uneventful for the first few hours and then Rey heard the distinct sound of the hyperdrive going out again. She cursed in Shyriiwook just as Chewie had taught her. This was now the sixth time that the drive had gone out and she was ready to tell Poe that the transport had to be scrapped.

So just outside to a topical planet called Aris, Rey attempted to limp the ship the rest of the way to Mygeeto. The few hundred parsecs would add several hours onto her travel time at real space speed.

Finally, after almost sixteen hours in space, Rey saw the dark planet come into view. It appeared to be coated in a layer of deep gray clouds and she thought that perhaps she would pick their next rendezvous point since there seemed to be nothing enticing or romantic about the smog-covered planet. But she plowed forward, through the atmosphere of dense fog and was surprised to see a landscape of towering crystal structures.

Since the system's one sun had a hard time shedding its warm rays on the surface of Mygeeto, the jagged mountains were dim with snow covering their peaks. Rey thought that if the sun was to shine down upon this sad world, that it would light up like a rainbow and possibly be the most beautiful place she had ever seen.

She laughed, remembering Leia's words from a few months back stating that one of the best and worse parts of Rey's heart was her ability to see the potential in the most downtrodden of people and places. That part of her heart was exactly why she was now starting her landing sequence to meet with the roughest of diamonds in the galaxy.

Before she could even finish shutting down the thrusters, the hull door was being opened and heavy but frantic boot falls sounded on the durasteel floor. Rey stood from the pilot's seat just in time to be engulfed in large arms and pressed to a broad chest. A mixture of musk, citrus, and ionized air flooded her senses and Rey knew she was home.

Gripping her face between his hands, he peppered her with kisses, starting on her forehead then moving to both of her cheeks and finally capturing her lips to his. After a few lingering seconds he parted from her and looked into Rey's eyes, with an expression somewhere between concern and relief sat upon his features. "You're late," he said searching her eyes for a moment. "I thought that…well, I thought a lot of things…but I thought something happened to you."

Namely at the forefront of his panicked thoughts was the idea that she had changed her mind and had no intention of coming to him at all. Other just as terrifying thoughts included her being picked up by bounty hunters, being stranded on a nonterrestrial world, her being dumped in the middle of dead space, or catastrophic ship failure that would end in her death from suffocation or explosion.

"The damn hyperdrive went out again," Rey reassured him and placed her open palm against his right cheek, running her fingers along what had become her favorite mark on his body.

"So you didn't change your mind?" His eyes still scanned her features for any sign of hesitation.

She smiles sweetly up at him, "I'm here aren't I?"

Ben stroked at her face once more and returned her smile, "You sure are." Finally, he kissed her again, this time it was long and deep as he gathered her into his arms.

Rey returned the gesture in kind, stretching up on her toes and wrapping her arms around his shoulders, dragging her body as close as possible to his. It felt so good to be with him, be wanted and cared for in a way she had never felt before. Sure, she felt loved by her friends and had even considered Leia motherly at times, but it was nothing compared to the way Ben needed her, desired her, pampered her, understood her, saw her.

So she continued to kiss him until they both needed air. "You're really here," he said again almost in disbelief.

"Yes Ben," she said with a laughing tone. "Now are we going to spend all of our time in this crap heap of a transport or are you going to show me why you brought me to this depressing planet?"

He looked sheepish, almost wanting to just close the hatch and spend the next few days locked in the crap heap as she called it, but he had invited her here for a reason. So being a gentleman, he grabbed her bag and let her leave the ship first, placing his hands at the small of her back. He wanted to sweep her up in his arms and run up to his quarters, but he still had a reputation to uphold.

Under his fingertips, he felt her shiver. This was a frigid planet and snow swirled around them. Only breaking contact with Rey for the briefest moment, he slipped his cowl over his head and wrapped it around her shoulders. He smirked to himself as he watched her nuzzle into the warm cloth.

Guiding her across the large tarmac, Rey was led into a crystal tower that was so tall that the tip of it disappeared into the low lying clouds. The inside was hallowed out and she gazed with wonder at how the lights bounced off the high ceiling. It felt more like a temple than a...she wasn't really sure where they were or what to think of the small creatures that looked like a mix of a raccoon and a fox. "What is this place?"

"One of the offices for the InterGalactic Banking Clan." Rey pulled a face which made Ben chuckle. "I had business to attend to here and it was close to where you were." He looked down at his feet for a moment as they waiting for a lift. "I was hoping that you could help me with something."

Rey looked up at him, "Help you?"

The elevator came and he ushered her on. "I have trusted your counsel for months now. You have helped the galaxy more than you will ever know." He watched her confused look shift to realization and then pride. She had been ruling with him, just from across the galaxy, across their bond. "I can't do this without you," he finally admitted, stepping in closer leaning his face down to hers. "I don't want to do this without you."

Before she could reply a bell rang and the doors to the lift opened. Ben stepped back from her, reaching out to place his hand on her back again, leading her down a short hall with luxurious carpet underfoot.

He opened one of just a handful of doors in the hall and when Rey entered, her jaw dropped. Half of the walls were made of crystal, pale pink with cuts of white and blue. The furnishings were like nothing she had ever seen, unlike anything on Jakku or within the old Rebel bases. In her naivety she wasn't aware that there was this much wealth in the galaxy.

"Please," Ben gestured towards twin settees.

Rey walked to the sitting area and watched at Ben set her bag down on the table that separated them. Shifting forward she reached inside and pulled out the items of Leia's that she had collected. "I brought you somethings..." she started and watched Ben's eyes light up, "of your mother's." His expression fell.

"I don't want anything from her."

Ignoring him, she started to pull out the items. "I believe this is from their wedding day," she pushed the picture across the table. "They look so young and happy," she observed.

"They were once," Ben reached out and held the photo for just a moment before turning it face down and placing it back on the table.

"Ever since I've known her, Leia wore this ring," she placed the gold and opal piece in front of him.

The stone that took up most of his mother's finger, looked like a trinket between his large thumb and forefinger. "It was from her home world, Alderaan, not Polis Massa," he clarified. "Part of the royal jewels."

"Oh," Rey said studying the ring again. "I thought it was a wedding ring since she wore it on her left ring finger."

Ben scoffed, "She may have wed Han Solo, but she was married to her people, to her cause, and to her beliefs."

Not wanting to fight with him, or open old wounds further she slipped the last few items out of the bag, quickly placing the hair brush, medal, and painting on the table before passing the journal to his waiting hands.

Surprisingly he picked up the brush twisting it between his fingers. "She went gray," he mused seeing the stray strands in the short bristles.

"A lot happened in the eight years you were gone."

"So it appears." He put down the brush and also pushed the gold medal to the side of the table, treating it as if he was going to catch an incurable disease form the simple touch.

"What's that?" Rey asked, wondering about it since taking it from the General's quarters.

"It's the Medal of Bravery presented to Han…my father after they blew up the Death Star during the Battle of Yavin."

Rey just nodded, knowing not to bring up Han so soon after Leia's passing. "And this?" She pushed the painting across to him.

Studying the landscape for a moment he traced the horizon, "The view from my grandmother's balcony on Naboo. My mother used to tell me that the lake behind the house sparked in the sun because stars were caught just under the water." His expression was tight, the memory was fond but the issue was that there were fewer of these than the fights, fear, and disappointment that surrounded his youth.

"That's her personal journal," Rey pointed to the red leather book.

Ben placed his fingers on the book as if he could absorb the contents just through a simple touch. He pulled back the cover and then slammed the book closed again, moving his hands to his face, pinching the bridge of his nose before an audible sob racked through him.

Rey moved around the table and knelt on the couch next to Ben, wrapping her arms around his heaving shoulders. She rubbed at his back, attempting to comfort him as she did the other night, she stated humming, but this time it only made him more upset.

Moving away from him for just a moment, she flipped through the first few pages of the journal and saw what had caused Ben to break down. A photo was taped into the book, a photo of a smiling Han Solo holding a very happy baby with a mop of black curly hair.

"Ben," she said softly, turning back to him reaching for his face, watching tears run through the channel of his scar.

Without opening his eyes and just relying on feeling her presence in the Force, he pulled her into his lap much the same as the night they shared their first kiss, with her chest pressed to his and his face buried in her hair.

Rey so wished that she could take his pain away, that she could unburden him of his self-loathing. She had forgiven him for his past, but she doubted that he would ever forgive himself. For now, though, she could be his comfort, his counselor, his partner, and his light.

* * *

 **AN: I do believe that I have the best readers. You are all so kind and your words stoke the fire in me to continuing writing. Keep them coming and I will try to keep going with daily updates. I'm currently working on Part 10 and think this story will run about 16-18 parts. (Future me...lolololol 40 chapters later)**


	7. Part VII

**Part VII**

They spent three days on Mygeeto. Ben told her of his plan to free the native people of the planet by pushing the Banking Clan to their headquarters on Coruscant where he could keep a better eye on them. He sold his two-fold plan to her as a win/win.

"And if they don't want to leave?" Rey had asked him.

Ben smirked, "You have your sabers right?"

Kylo…as he became when donning his mask, only had to use physical force on one of the executives before the other board members agreed to abandon the parma-winter planet for the city-world of Coruscant. The accord that they signed freed the native Lurmen from their decades-long servitude to the Clan.

Removing his mask and with Rey at his side, Kylo met with the Lurmen tribe leaders, returning the planet to its rightful inhabitants. She remained silent, watching him bow out of respect to the tribe's elders and even speaking a few words in their native tongue. If she had only known back on the _Supremacy_ that this was the plan for his New Order, perhaps it wouldn't have taken her so long to return to him.

In exchange for the liberation of the natives and their homeworld, the Lurmen entered into an agreement with the New Order to be gracious hosts to the Order any time officials found themselves in the sector and also continue to supply the crystals needed for the manufacturing of array weapons.

"That was amazing," Rey said when they were alone again in the lift in their towering crystal accommodations.

"Yes," Kylo agreed, carrying his helmet under his arm as they stepped out of the elevator. "But do not be mistaken, every act of benevolence benefits not only the Order but also the rest of the galaxy in some fashion."

They reached the door to her room. Ben had been a gentleman and had not assumed that they would be sharing a bed, much to his pain and Rey's dismay. They had fallen asleep in the bond plenty of times with him stretched across his couch that would be pushed up against her cot, but Rey wondered what it would truly be like to wake up to his warm body pressed against hers.

So she decided to make a move knowing that Ben would never take advantage no matter how much she wished he would just take her. Biting her lip she held out her hand, "Would you like to come in and tell me more about it?"

He tried to read her expression, the soft smile of her lips, the slight flush of her cheeks, and the heavy-lidded look of her sparkling hazel eyes. She blinked slowly as if her thick lashes weighted a ton. His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed the rock that had settled in his throat. "Sure," he answered simply and took her hand.

Once the door was closed behind them she turned to him, "So tell me about the big picture for this planet."

Setting his helmet down on an ornate table by the door, he started to explain, "The Banking Clan have been enslaving the Lurmen people and monopolizing the supply of the crystals that are mined on Mygeeto since the time of the Old Empire…"

His voice faltered as she reached for his hands and started to peel off his gloves. "That's a really long time." The right glove hit the floor. "And the New Republic did nothing about this?" The left glove hit the floor.

"No," his tone may have been an octave higher. "Many of the Senators were in the pockets of the Banking Clan hence why the Senate had to go. It was deep in corruption and bought officials."

Her hands moved to his surcoat, knowing by now how the closures worked, "Wealth seemed to be a problem within politics."

"Democracy is no longer democratic if it is bought and paid for." She reached the last hook of his coat and ran her hands up his tunic covered chest.

"So what of the Lurmens?" Rey looked up at him as she pushed the surcoat off of his broad shoulders.

Ben's breath shuttered at the workings of her hands, "They will be able to go back to the governing ways of their past leaders. They will be able to continue to mine and sell the crystals of their world. They will create their own economy and engage in free trade throughout the galaxy." The heavy material pooled behind him on the floor.

"So they get their culture back, as a free world, and they grant you access to their resources as a grateful and unified nation." Rey pulled his tunic from the waistband of his leather pants.

"Exactly." Ben looked down at her with fear, wonder, and excitement, waxing and weening between the three emotions.

Gathering the soft fabric between her nimble fingers, Rey ran the heels of her hands up the strong plane of his abdomen. Ben finally sprung into action and helped her by gathering the collar of the top and pulling it over his head, dropping it to join his coat.

"And how many worlds have you freed since becoming Supreme Leader?" Rey studied the scars that encompassed his torso, starting at the large bowcaster divot that Chewie had given him then moving to his shoulder were a crater sat deep into his flesh from where she had stabbed at him on Starkiller.

Shivering under her touch, Ben's answer was a whisper, "Twenty seven."

Rey's gaze left his broad chest and snapped up to his dark eyes, noting that they held an intense sense of longing within them. She reached for his face, cupping her mark, "Oh, Ben. Why didn't you tell me this was the vision for your New Order? Why didn't you tell me what I was walking away from?"

Her expression was sad and regretting. She had thought that Kylo wanted Snoke's New Order or Vader's Empire. She thought that he was forging a path that she could not follow. She wonders how much good had gone by the wayside because she was too scared to take a leap of faith.

"I had just killed my Master. Just turned my back on everything I had known about power, leadership, and the Force. For you. I did all of that for you. And you reached for the saber and ran from me, leaving me for dead." He had to inhale through his nose to keep his temper in check. He didn't want to ruin the moment between them, but he was still angry about how she had left. "Hux was about to pull his blaster on me when I finally regained consciousness."

Not wanting this to be a tit for tat where Rey brought up the three TIE fighters that came after her on Crait, Rey just touched his cheek again attempting to get him to focus back on her. "I'm sorry…" she started and his eyes snapped to her's. "I'm sorry I left you."

Ben didn't want any more talking. He didn't want the possibility of them starting a fight. Rey was just as stubborn and fiery as his mother and Leia could start an argument with Han with just a look. So instead he gathered her in his arms and let his own apology flow through his lips as they explored the skin of her neck and jaw.

As he lifted her up his body, Rey wrapped her strong legs around his middle, carding her fingers into his hair and exposing more of her neck for him to lavish. When she felt his lips part from her heated skin, she turned her face down to look at him.

His breaths came quick but deep, his heart raced just below his ribs, and his cock strained against the unforgiving leather pants. "Rey," he said searching her face. "I…" he swallowed. "We…"

"Will you stop thinking and take me to bed already Ben?" Rey's tone was teasing and her face full of light.

If either of his hand were free, Ben would have pinched himself and wished with all of his might that this wasn't another dream. But he knew it wasn't. He knew that Rey was in his arms and she was asking him to…asking him to…His mind came to and he started to move forward with purpose.

Across the room was the sleeping chamber, a circular area completely carved out of the blush-toned crystalline tower. With just a thought the doors closed behind them, Ben didn't want any distractions or interruptions until morning. Though he knew that once he had her, there would be no satiating his need for her.

Rey placed a searing kiss upon his lips before releasing her legs and sliding down his body onto her own two feet. Taking a step back from him, she started to unravel her dark gray arm wraps.

Every inch of exposed skin that she displayed for him was like watching the sunrise. Ben almost believed that if he reached out to her that he would be burned from the sheer amount of light pouring out around her. So he stayed standing where she left him, his eyes taking in the curves of her bare arms.

Using the Force, she called her saber to her hands and she watched Ben jump slightly. She realized that even though he was willing to be vulnerable in front of her, there would always be a part of Ben Solo that feared her. She had too much control over him, she knew that she wielded the most powerful force in the galaxy, but what Ben didn't understand was that Rey was just as lost to him.

So she held her weapon out to him, trusting him and showing him that she was willing to be just as defenseless as he was. That they were equals in everything, including their weaknesses.

Ben took the saberstaff hilt and twisted it, disconnecting the two side and looked at their bases, running his thumbs over the stones and reading the inscription. "Across the stars, you are my home," his voice was just above a whisper.

"I love you, Ben." Rey's tone was just as soft but it was enough to gain his attention.

Ben couldn't form the words, but he could show her just how much he returned her affections. Pressing his lips to hers, their hands were a flurry of movement as they worked to rid the other of the rest of their clothing.

Rey dimmed the overhead chandelier with a wave of her hand, bathing the room in a golden glow as he laid her back on the bed. Ben knew she wasn't experienced, having seen the loneliness in her mind on Starkiller and not wanting to believe that she would take a lover after their bond was formed. So he let his hands and mouth touch all the parts of Rey that would make her ready for him.

She arched off the soft mattress, moaning and rolling her hips up trying to make contact with his stiff cock, but it was pressed into her thigh as he licked and nibbled at her humble breasts. Taking the hand of the arm that was not supporting his weight over her body, Ben ran his middle finger down her slit, causing her to hiss and buck at the light touch.

He smiled into the soft tissue of her breast and ran the flat of his tongue across her pebbled nipple, causing her to arch into him again. "I don't want to hurt you," he cooed into her chest. "You have to let me get you ready."

"But Ben…" she whined. "I need," her breath hitched when his finger grazed her nub, "I need…" and her eyes rolled back as he circled her clit with a little more pressure.

"I know, my love," he reassured, for his body was just as needing. He wanted to bring his finger up to his lips and taste her but knew that soon enough he would be able to drink her nectar straight from the tap, so he slid his finger back down her slit, gathering more of her moisture before pushing at her entrance.

Rey bucked up against his hand, making his finger slip into her up to his second knuckle and they both hissed, her with some relief and him at the sensation of just how tight she was. Ben started to move his finger in and out of her, stopping right where he felt her barrier, knowing that there was only one part of him that would be breaking it.

At first, her body was rigid, all of her muscles coiled tight and he sat back some, running his other hand along the outside of her thigh, "You have to relax."

She took in a few calming breaths and he felt the clamp around his finger slack just a bit. Tilting her head up to look at him, abs pushing out breaths, biceps curled as his large hands worked at her lower half. "I feel like I'm going to explode," her voice was already raw.

"Good," Ben chuckled as he continued to push his finger into her, making slight rotations of his wrist to stretch her bit by bit. Knowing that she would relax further if he could make her cum, he curled his finger and then pressed his thumb to her clit.

Her head was thrown back, her hands clutching her forehead as a way to ground her body to this realm before she reached down to her right breast and pinched her hard nipple between her thumb and forefinger. Over the past few months, she had found herself needing self-satisfaction more often and knew how to push her body to the edge.

Taking his hand off of her thigh, Ben ran it up her torso, mimicking the pinching and pulling that she was bestowing upon her other breast. Rey was thrashing under him, smiling at hearing the Shyriiwook curses falling from her lips, he moved his hand again, pressing down on her lower abdomen, just between her protruding hip bones.

Continuing his inward and upwards thrusts, her moisture was dripping down and pooling in the palm of his hand and he decided to add his ring finger, knowing that her body would compensate for the discomfort with the rush of her building orgasm.

Ben watched her every staggering breath, felt ever shuttering of her knees against his hips, heard every word of her begging for him, and he was impossibly in love with her. He would free a million words to have her in his bed every night. Decommission hundreds of warships to have her at his side. He would move stars to shine just for her, the woman who was radiant and pouring out her light just under his fingertips.

Rey felt the familiar tightness building, but it was almost tenfold what she had ever experienced with herself. She knew what was coming and all she can remember is, "Ben, please," falling from her lips again and again.

Finally, with a few more thrusts, his thumb pressing down and swiping side to side across her bud, and other hand pulling her hips up just enough to cause her to fall over the edge. Her inner walls clamped down around his fingers and he was unable to move them to help her ride out the orgasm. Instead, he let up on the pressure on her clit and drew lazy circles around it while lightly bushing his fingers tips across her stomach.

His hand was thoroughly coated in her juices as he finally slid his fingers from within her. Again resisting the urge to lick his digits clean, he took his hand and wrapped it around his throbbing cock, using her moisture to ready himself.

As her mind came to and Rey leaned up on one elbow to look at him, amazed that he could make her body feel that brilliant, her eyes went round at the sight of his cock in hand. "How the hell is that going to fit…" her question trailed off as her breathing picked up, again scared and excited about the prospect of joining with him.

Ben almost cringed at the worried look on her face. He needed her so badly but didn't want to hurt her. His hulking build corresponded to the size of the cock in his hand that was completely coated in her slick. "We'll go slow," he leaned down again, covering her body with his and he kissed her. "I promise, my love." He whispered the last words upon her lips as he ran the head of his cock along her slit, gathering more moisture before positioning himself at her entrance.

"Tell me you want me," he pleaded, stroking hair off her forehead and searching her eyes for something…anything that would tell him that they would be together until the end of time once they were bonded in every way.

Rey lifted her head enough to place her lips upon the mark on his right cheek. "I want you, Ben Solo." Truer words had never left her lips.

"I love you so much," he almost wept being able to finally say the words and he pushed with his hips at an agonizingly slow pace.

She hissed as her core burned, stretching to accommodate him and he kissed her, attempting to take her pain away. There was something humbling and earth-shatter about being connected to another like this. Ben had other women, but never one he loved, never one that the Force bonded to him, never anyone like Rey.

It seemed like hours or maybe minutes of gentle caresses and whispered confessions and promises of forever when he was deep enough to feel her barrier. "Why are you stopping?" Rey asked with worry as she looked up into his dark eyes but saw nothing but love.

"I need you to breathe Rey."

"What…why?" And then she felt his hips drive forward, a tearing in her core caused her to take in a quick breath through gritted teeth. She dug her nails into his muscular flanks as she felt him settle further into the cradle of her thighs.

Ben was completely sheathed inside Rey and his mind swan, never thinking that after their rough beginning that they would end up like this. He watched her face intently, waiting for the furrow of her brow to relax. "Tell me when I can move," he whispered down to her, kissing her forehead before looking back into her hazel eyes.

"I'm okay," she breathed, now gripping on to his biceps and shifting her hips making him slide from her just a fraction before rolling her hips back up, taking him back in with only some slight discomfort.

He hissed now, closing his eyes and taking her face in both his hands, kissing her frantically, "Gods you feel so good, Rey." Ben rocked into her tight heat, bowing his lean body over her's as he started his slow and shallow thrusts.

With each movement, it became less painful and soon they settled into a rhythm that was enjoyable to both. After rocking up her hips to meet his thrusts, Rey moved her knee up next to his ribs, tilting up so that each time he joined with her, the spot deep inside of her that made her eyes roll back in her head, was stroked.

Her second climax was building and she wasn't shy about vocalizing her need for him. Scratching at his upper thigh, she called out to him, "Ben...please don't stop," as he slid quick and deep within her.

Ben did her bidding, forehead pressed to her shoulder as he looked down her heaving chest to where they joined time and time again. His only purpose at this point was to bring her pleasure. To make her want to come to him again so that he can bask in her light and heal within her body.

Rey called his name, needing to see his face, needing his lips upon her's and he did as she needed without having to be asked. They were wrapped in a cocoon of warmth, of the Force, and she would be forever thankful that she saved herself for this exact moment, with the man that she loved.

Moaning into their kiss her body crested, squeezing almost painfully tight around him and then spasming, coaxing him to spill his seed deep within her. With an audible sigh of relief, knowing that he could finally let himself go, letting the intensely amazing feeling of her tight pussy milking him wash over him.

If only one lesson he was thankful to Snoke for was his ability to block out unwanted stimuli. Usually, he would use this pain so that he could continue to train or fight if injured, but with Rey, he would have lost himself long ago to her tight heat if he had fully bathed in the sensation.

So with her pulsing around him, Ben grunted into their kiss and finished within her, a few long and slow thrusts mixed her slick with his cum and he groaned at how easily he could now move within her. He wanted to collapse onto her but knew she would prefer to not be crushed under his bulk, so he just held himself over her, propped onto his elbows and his softening cock still buried deed.

"I am completely yours," his voice was husky as he kissed along her sweat covered face.

"You are my home," she answered in kind, pushing damp hair from his face.

More important than the words spoken at that moment, was the promise they made to each other through the Force. The feelings they exchanged through the bond were untainted and raw and true.

* * *

 **AN: Since I'll be out late tonight, I wanted to get today's chapter up now. Let me know what you think!**


	8. Part VIII

**Part VIII**

After lying together for some time, Ben got up and ran them a bath and bless him if he didn't blush when standing completely nude in front of her as Rey took her time studying his body. The hot water felt heavenly between Rey's legs, experiencing a soreness that was completely different from that of hours spent training.

They joined once more that night with Rey sitting loving in his lap as she remained as close as possible, their lips and heated gaze barely parting the entire time. Ben pinched at her nipples how he now knew she enjoyed while pulling her into him with a strong arm around her rear. Her orgasm was quiet, just hushed whimpers and throaty moans, but it still rocked through both of them. Letting her ride out the last of the waves, Ben laid her back on the bed, never breaking contact with her and he set to thrusting into her dripping heat. Within minutes she was mewing up at him again and he lost himself to her.

"I don't think I have ever felt this tired but also electrified at the same time," Rey said when he rolled off her and they both tried to control their breathing.

"I never thought I could want something as much as I want you," Ben pushed back at his hair and turned his head to look at her.

Rey's stomach shook with her laugh, "You are going to have to give me time to recover Ben. I'm new to this."

Reaching a hand over both of their bodies, Ben drew her forehead to his lips, smiling at the joy that radiated off of her like the brightest star in his galaxy. "I'll make you a deal." He continued when she hummed in response, her eyes already starting to close. "For the rest of the night, all I will ask is to be able to hold you."

A sleepy smile bloomed across her kiss-swollen lips, "You have yourself a deal, Solo."

She was possibly the only person in the galaxy that could get away with calling him by his given name, and as he shifted them up in the bed and pulled the covers over her already slumbering form, Ben wondered if she would take the name of Solo or Ren, and better yet, he didn't care which she chose, as long as she was his.

They both had the best nights sleep of their lives. Both sated from their love making, in the arms of the person they loved more than life itself, and with the hum of the Force protecting them from anything that could ruin such a perfect moment.

Rey woke the next morning alone, but quickly heard sounds from the outer room of her accommodation and then the delicious aroma of caf came wafting into her. Still being sore at the apex of her legs and not wanting to be constricted into pants, Rey wrapped the warm duvet around her naked body and padded out to other room.

"Good morning, love," Ben said without turning around from his spot on the couch.

Rey came around to the sitting area and look down at him, only clad in his pants she wondered, "Aren't you cold?" Mygeeto was a planet plunged into a never-ending winter and even through the thick blanket wrapped around her, Rey could feel the chill in the air.

"I run hot," Ben said holding out a cup of caf to her.

"I'd say," Rey said more to herself but of course Ben heard and he gave her a signature Solo smirk. Huffing at how adorable the feared leader of the galaxy could be, Rey fell onto the couch next to him, snuggling up under his outstretched arm before taking the caf. Drinking a large sip of the hot liquid, she moaned, "This is so much better than the instant rationed caf we have on Dantooine."

He reached down, cupping her chin and turning her face up to his, pressing his lips to hers. They both tasted of the dark richness of the coffee and Rey was surprised at how normal this moment felt. "I could get used to this," she mumbled against his lips.

Looked down at her, Ben's expression took on a hardness, "I won't ask you to join me again Rey. I don't think I could handle the rejection another time, especially after this," he kissed her lips again to show her that he wasn't angry, just protecting his heart and his sanity. "But whenever you are ready to join me, there is a place at my side for you."

Rey understood his reasons. She had the same justifications for not asking him to come back with her to the Resistance, even though at this point he had nothing to come back to except her and she was starting to doubt her purpose within the rebels. So she just nodded and gave him a soft smile, "Okay," was her simple answer.

Going back to sipping on her caf, she peered over at the datapad in the hand that wasn't wrapped around her, "So what part of the galaxy are we saving today?"

He wasn't sure it was possible to love her more, but she was asking to rule with him, just in her own way. Ben was about to answer when he was reminded of something of the utmost importance. Leaning forward, he picked up a small glass cup and handed it to Rey.

"What's this?" She asked looking at the single white pill at the bottom of the glass.

Turning his body towards her some more so that they both didn't have to crane their necks to look at each other, he answered. "That will prevent pregnancy from last night."

The realization came over her of the consequence of sex beyond earth-shattering pleasure. When she stared down at the pill for a long moment, Ben spoke again. "It's completely your choice Rey. I just figured I would give you the option because you are still so young and I think two people should at least live together before bringing about another life."

"My choice?" Rey asked.

"Yes," he said with a smile and a kiss. "If you so desire, I will put as many babies in you as you want. But if you don't want that, then I am content to just have you."

Another kiss between them and then Rey tipped the cup into her mouth, following the bitter pill with some of her lukewarm caf. "Maybe someday...but not now." She reassured him.

Nothing else was mentioned about it for the rest of their time together. They spent the next few hours pouring over messages that needed the Supreme Leader's urgent attention. Ben thought about how easy it would be to rule with his Empress influencing him all the while her pert breasts peeking out from under the duvet. He prayed that Rey understood the amount of impact that she had not only on his soul but also dozens of worlds that have already been liberated and the countless others that were depending on the benevolence of Kylo Ren to deliver them from ruin.

He wanted to take her to bed again but a representative from the Lurman people was awaiting them, so with a quick but heated kiss he returned to his quarters and allowed her to get cleaned up and dressed without distraction.

Rey wore clothing provided by Ben, the style was much to her liking with a normal tunic and longer britches that were lined with the softest material she had ever felt. She donned her arm warps and a vest made of warmer material than the one she came with. When Ben returned to her she was studying the light gray cloak that was left out for her.

"We will be out in the elements for most of the afternoon," he said off handedly knowing that she wasn't used to wearing more than her arm wraps in warmer climates. He walked over to her, picking up the cloak and swinging it around her shoulders, fastening it across her collar bones and smooth the hood over her shoulders. Next, he pulled a pair of fingerless fur lined gray leather gloves from his surcoat pocket and held each out one for her to slip her slim hand into, they came up half her forearm and he laced the delicate buttons together, securing the gloves in place.

She was already staring to feel warm and doubted it had anything to do with the clothing, having not yet been exposed to the planet's harsh winter winds. Rey realized that she was flooded with need not only when Ben removed her clothing, but also when he painstakingly worried about her wellbeing and gifted her with practical items, even if they were a finer quality than she ever thought she would deserve.

They walked out of the door and over to the elevators as Ben slid on his gloves as well. "No mask today?" Rey mused not seeing the offensive helmet that was usually tucked under his arm.

"Kylo Ren has already done his part for the Lurman people. Today I am just a man taking the woman he loves out into the frigid cold to look at crystal caves…" his tone became lighter as he went on, watching Rey's face scrunch up at the mention of the tundra-like weather that awaited them.

"How about next time you pick somewhere tropical," Rey pulled at her cloak in preparation of the chill that usually ran through the lobby of the building.

"I'll keep that in mind," he smirked, thankful that she was asking for a next time. Once they crossed the lobby, he stopped and turned to her, pulling the hood up on her cloak. He knew that any time they were together that it would have to be with the up most discretion. Ben wasn't blind to the fact that the Resistance had a vengeful pit in their hearts and wouldn't put it past them not to capture and torture Rey if they were to discover the depth of their relationship.

He pulled up the hood of his cowl and then extended his hand out to her, lacing their fingers before venturing down one of the city's many catwalks towards a small landing area that held a craft that looked much like Kylo's Command Shuttle but in a much smaller version.

There was enough room for the two humanoids and three Lurmen who stood no taller than Maz, Rey mused. Two of the small creatures piloted the craft while the third sat in the passenger's area, introducing himself as Wag Too, the healer from the largest Lurmen tribe.

Rey settled in and was afforded a nice view of the landscape extending from around the city center. She wasn't sure how long they were in the air, but time had no relevance as Ben drew soft circles atop her leg, just above her knee, as he listened to Wag discuss the different types of mines around the world.

They finally landed and were ushered through frigid winds to a cave opening. Ben had to duck his head but Rey and Wag entered with no issue. Only a few feet into the cave Rey stopped in her tracks as if hitting a wall and she turned back to him, "Do you feel that?" She asked dumbly, knowing that the only other Force sensitive being in attendance would feel the powerful wave coming from the cave.

He just smiled and nodded his head, placing his hand at her back and ushering her forward again. Ben wanted to be able to feel her excitement when the cave opened up.

Rey did not disappoint, sucking in breath in awe. Now deep within the cave, the walls glowed with every color she ever imagined. "Kybers," she said through a whisper, not daring to disturb the tranquility that the powerful stones were giving off.

Ben stepped up to her and lowered her hood, cupping her face, "Yes, my love." He was basking in the power just as much as she was. "I want you to reach out with the Force and see if anything calls to you."

"But I already have kybers for my saber, I don't need another."

"Let the Force be the judge of that," He replied simply before placing a gentle kiss upon her lips.

Turning away from his embrace, Rey closed her eyes and reached out. The influx of power swirling around her was almost overwhelming so she reached back for Ben's hand to ground herself. If she had to put to words what she was feeling, it was as if thousands of voices were calling out and she had to find the one that was saying her name at a whisper.

After a long moment, her knitted brows relaxed and she walked forwards, eyes still closed and her fingers slid from Ben's. She glided across the rough terrain of the cave floor, never missing a step or faltering, the Force guiding her every move.

Finally, she reached out her hand before crouching to the floor and finding a kyber that was about as large as one of Ben's fingers. The quick thought sent shivers down her body as she remembered how it felt to have his digits deep within her and she grew hot despite the chill in the cave.

When she opened her eyes, she saw the most brilliant purple kyber under her fingers and she looked back at Ben with nothing but joy and wonder in her features. Wag came and made quick work of extracting the crystal from the surrounding stone and placed it back into Rey's hand, uttering a word in his native tongue that she didn't understand.

Walking back over to Ben, she showed him the crystal and he smiled down at her, "It suits you." It was a perfect mix of his red kyber that was stoked in darkness and the redeeming hope of the blue crystals that now powered her saberstaff.

"What did Wag say to me back there?" She asked as they started to exit the cave.

Ben reached out, pressing the new kyber between both their palms as he once more threaded his fingers with hers. "He addressed you as Empress."

"Oh," Rey bit her lip and looked down at their joined hands but didn't offer any rebuttal. She knew what the title meant to Ben and the Force had been very clear that she would end up at his side, but the idea of publicly being his, of being a ruler equal of the man that amazed her at every turn, was daunting.

They boarded the ship again and headed back to the city, Rey was scheduled to depart for Dantoonie and Kylo was needed back on Coruscant.

Back in her quarters, Ben used the Force to float the purple crystal from Rey's hand to his. He cupped his fingers around it and concentrated, pouring the lightest part of his being into the kyber. Not dreaming of training the pure balance of his love's new crystal, he still wanted a piece of him to always be with her.

When he handed it back to her, she sucked in a breath of surprise, closing her eyes as if the sweetest wind had just come over her. "I can feel you."

"Yes," he said lowly. "So you will never doubt my love for you and always know that you have a home...a family with me."

"I will never doubt this," Rey said, pressing the crystal to her chest.

They made love one last time before she needed to go. It was soft and slow, each of them holding on to the other, not wanting to admit that they would be returning to separate lives. They dressed in silence, exchanging longing looks, each of their resolves on the brink of crumbling with one more touch, one more kiss, one more whisper of love.

But Rey knew the time wasn't right. She knew that somehow she needed to return to the Resistance. Ben still had work to do and she couldn't be the distraction that let the galaxy fall apart just as it was on the cusp of peace. So they would wait and when the Force gave her that final undoubting push, she would go to him, stand at his side, be his home and his light, and the galaxy would be all the better for it.

They walked in silence out to the tarmac, saying everything they needed to between each other with the simple touch of his hand in her's. Rey looked around the landing area for her simple off-white transport craft but was unable to locate it among the other ships. Panic rose within her chest and she turned her questioning but not accusing gaze up to Ben.

"Where is my ship?"

"That thing was good for nothing but scrap. I don't want to continuously have to worry about you getting stranded in a ship that barely limped its way here. So I got you something more reliable."

"And traceable?" Rey asked raising her eyebrow and setting her closed fist against her popped hip.

"I don't need trackers to know where you are," he ran his fingers lightly along the side of her face. "I can literally feel you across the galaxy. That is how I found you the first time."

Rey was astonished, but shouldn't be, remembering that he trained for years under two different Masters. She at times forgot how strong Ben was in the Force, how easy he made it seem when he connected to his powers. For him it was more than just moving rocks or calling a saber from across the room, the Force was Ben's religion, the moral compass in which directed his actions. Now that he didn't have the poisonous words and abusive treatment of Snoke, Ben was doing what he was born to do, he was ruling.

But where did she fit in? How did a sand rat from the backwater world of Jakku end up on the arm of the Supreme Leader? By dumb luck and the intervention of the Force, she mused. Although Ben never made her feel less than, she wasn't blind to the differences in their social status, their births...families were polar opposites, but he was always focused on how they were similar and their shared dream for a future of peace.

"I want to be able to feel you," Rey answered in a small whisper now that he was pressed up against her.

He kissed her lips, so softly that she almost feared he didn't make contact at all. "You will."

They turned back towards the transport and Rey circled around it doing her pre-flight checks. It was a dark gray model perhaps a few years old, but the exterior looked well used, scorch marks stained the bottom from reentries and there was even a few dings and dents. She breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that if Ben truly had his way, she would fly around in a Command Shuttle of her own, but that would outright scream that she just spent the past few days in the Supreme Leader's bed.

"It's mechanically sound," Ben added as they stepped on to the craft. "Any time you come to me, fly this craft and you won't be bothered by any First Order scouts."

"I'm not gonna be the only one flying this ship. You're basically giving the Resistance a free pass around the galaxy."

"That my love is a risk that I'm willing to take," he said with what was becoming her favorite smirk.

"So how am I supposed to explain this new ship to Poe when I get back?"

Ben shrugged. "Just tell him the truth, that you conned it off some rich guy from Hanna City."

"That's not funny Ben."

He smiled again, "Tell them that you used your Jedi mind tricks." As he spoke he waved his two fingers in front of her face indicating the Jedi suggestive gesture.

"You're impossible." Rey returned his playful smile thinking about all the times she has gotten away with questionable behavior all in the name of the Force. "But that just may work."

It pains him to send her away but he knew that she was not ready to take her place at his side. He also wished that he could place the problems of the galaxy aside and focus all his time on her, but there was still so much work to do and it would not wait for his love life.

Still, inside the shuttle and out of sight of prying eyes, he pulled her in close, capturing her lips to his and was rewarded with a light whimper of need. "Gods, I love you." He whispered against her lips as he stroked his large hands over her soft as silk hair.

He was bent down enough to rest his forehead upon hers. Her gaze lifted, appearing to look into his very soul, and she whispered. "Across the stars…"

His breath shattered for just a moment, "You are my home."

Standing back on the tarmac, alone, and watching the love of his life through the tinted windscreen, Ben felt like a piece of his soul was being ripped from his body. If he had felt torn in two before killing his father…if he had felt conflicting before Snoke…he would hate to have to put a word to the way that his body was now feeling.

But on day two hundred and ninety-four he watched her leave.


	9. Part IX

**Because you all are amazing, I'm going to try and keep doing daily updates until this is done but I'm catching on how fast I can write so perhaps we might have to do a few days between updates for Part 12 through The End.**

 **But you are all amazing with your kind words!**

* * *

 **Part IX**

Rey made it back to Dantooine in record time. The hyperdrive in the new ship hummed like a well-oiled machine. She had to radio ahead, tell them she was coming in on a different ship.

General Dameron and Major Connix were waiting for her in the hanger and Poe whistled as Rey stepped out of the transport. "Where did you find this beauty?"

Ahch-To, where they believed she had gone, was clear across the galaxy and not of the same hyperspace lanes that led to Mygeeto. She had looked up some different worlds that she could fib about but feeling fun and light she took Ben's suggestion. "On Chandrila. The hyperdrives on the old ship finally gave out and I was stranded until I used," she made the same gesture that Ben had, waving her hand in front of Poe's face, wiggling her fingers as if revealing a magic trick, "my Jedi powers to get a good deal."

Poe folded his arms over his chest, "I didn't think you were supposed to use the Force to steal."

"Would you rather I be stranded on a Core world with a First Order bounty on my head? Or be taken by Kylo Ren and have the location of the Resistance pulled from my mind?" Rey put her fists on her hips, not pleased with his tone.

"I just don't need some hot-headed Chandrilan tracking his ship back here and causing trouble because you made a decision before thinking it through."

Rey clenched her teeth if only the General knew the tall, dark, and lightsaber wielding Chandrilan that she could bring upon them with just a thought. She was also livid with Poe, the trigger happy flyboy who was always the first to run into a fight, even without considering every possible consequence. But now that he was the leader of the Resistance, his missions, often only succeeding by the skin of his teeth, were hailed as heroics.

If only she could really tell him that she had delivered a well crafted, well maintained, untrackable and untraceable, clean ship that the Resistance could use to slip behind any First Order occupied stronghold. But she wasn't going to tell him that, she was actually thinking about grounding it for maintenance any time a new mission came up.

Since she had taken too long to reply, Poe took it as silent obedience. "As soon as you are settled we need you to get back to work on two of the fighters. I don't know why Kaydel approved your little Force adventure when we have some important attacks coming up."

Reaching out her hand, she called her saberstaff to her palm. She had just helped free an entire world of lifeforms. She had helped give a people back their culture. She had a hand in banking reform and the building of hospitals and schools across the galaxy. Some of her pillow talk involved freeing the Stormtroopers and considering the best way to downsize the military. The leader of the galaxy called her Empress…but that was another life. She was starting to be more and more unsure as to why that life scared her so much.

It was better than only being seen for one set of skills. Yes, she had been a scavenger on Jakku and knew her way around a spacecraft better than anyone classically trained in mechanics, but Ben saw so much more in her. For sure he saw the lost and scared girl of her past, but he also saw strength and perseverance, her quick wit and eagerness to learn, her compassion and her heart. He saw greatness while at times she felt that all the Resistance saw was a silly girl in robes playing with a laser sword.

She marched to her quarters and started to unpack. Taking out the pair of soft gray leather gloves, she touched at the buttons where his fingers had worked and Rey could almost feel his heat. Next, she readied to take a shower, wanting to wash the day's travel grime from her skin, but also she was fearful of washing his scent from her hair. After removing her tunic, she pulled the purple crystal from her breast band, where she has placed the kyber close to her heart, and put it in her box of Ben.

Rey sulked around the base for days. Only Finn and Rose asked about her trip to the Jedi Temple, and Rey kept her answers short and generic. Yes, Leia was at peace, no she had not seen a Force ghost, and no she wasn't any closer to knowing her purpose as a Jedi. Except Rey knew within her heart that she was never meant to be a Jedi and was thankful for Ben sharing information with her about The Gray.

The bond opened almost every day for two weeks. At first, they were fleeting like before, just enough time for them to see each other. They both would have preferred to have time together, but just knowing the other was safe had been enough.

"You seem upset, my love," Ben said into their empty quarters one night halfway through the week.

Rey sighed, knowing that they never really discussed her day to day life with the Resistance, but she needed someone to talk to who wasn't on this side or that...she needed someone on _her_ side. "Poe is being a humongous ass."

Ben chuckled, "I thought that was common knowledge."

She gave him a sharp gaze before smiling. Even though it was only days since she'd been with him on Mygeeto, Rey missed the way that he made her feel at ease. When he opened his arms for her, she raced towards them, letting him envelop her. His scent calmed her further and Rey dug her fingers into the fine fabric of his surcoat.

"It's just my purpose here seems so one-sided. They only see me as the odd girl that can fix ships. Poe parades new recruits by my work station in the hangar and says something _smart_ like 'Even the Jedi are doing their part for the cause,' like my only talent is throwing a wrench."

He cupped her cheek, tilting her face up towards his, but she continued, "Sometimes I do want to throw a wrench, or Force push it, into the back of his ego inflated head."

Ben had to chuckle now, "You know that you are so much more than any of them will ever know," he put his finger under her chin so she couldn't look away. "Right?"

Her shoulders slumped, "Is it so bad to want some recognition from time to time?"

"It's a very un-Jedi quality but I have already told you that you would make a terrible Jedi." He finally kissed her pouting lips, "I know, and appreciate everything you are doing to help me and help the galaxy, and whenever you are ready, the rest of the galaxy will know what you have done as well."

Rey now smiled up at his words. While the Resistance still treated her like an uneducated orphan from Jakku, that couldn't possibly understand the workings of government and the needs of the galaxy, she had Ben, her Supreme Leader, her Emperor, that saw her worth, values her counsel, and loves her more than all the stars.

"Thank you, Ben," she said up to him with a loving smile, but she was still keyed up, her body still buzzed with frustration. "I just wish I could shake this feeling of wanting to cause physical harm to him…knock him down a peg."

Secretly Ben loved her little dark areas, the parts of her that still itched for violence…for a fight. Those dark spots may come in handy down the line when she stands with him as a united front. Stepping back from her, he held his outstretched arms at her shoulders, "So sabers or sex?"

Rey's face when slack with surprise and then she blushed. "What..." she stammered.

"You need to work off this energy, re-balance yourself," he smirked. "So will it be sabers or sex?" He prayed for the latter and he thanked the Force when he saw her eyes become hooded with lust. "Sex it is," he breathed out as he once again closed the small distance between them, pulling her into his arms.

That night they found that they could indeed join intimately through the bond. Forgoing the worry of trying to match up furniture in their separate environments, Ben just quickly stripped her of her simple clothing and took her against the steel wall of her quarters.

He held Rey in his arms as if she was weightless, as she wrapped her legs around his waist and he thrust up into her with vigor. She gripped her hands in his dark hair and attempted to muffle her cries and moans of pleasure into the crook of his neck. When she reached her pinnacle, she bit into the meaty part of his shoulder to avoid waking the entire hall her quarters were on.

The feeling of her clenching around him and the sharp pain radiating from her bite caused Ben to call out his climax while thrusting his seed deep inside her. Without causing them to part, he walked to his couch and sat down with a satisfied but exhausted sigh. He cradled Rey into his lap, stroking at her hair and bare back as she rested against his chest.

"Thank the Force for bond sex," Rey's breathy laughter ghosted across his heated skin and she heard his chuckle in reply as her ear was pressed over his heart.

The bond allows them to stay like this for a little while longer before they both felt the air around them shift and Rey extracted herself from his lap before she was forced to fall out of thin air again.

"My love," Ben said into the fading bond.

"My home," Rey replied back just before he disappeared.

She pulled another little white pill out of her box of Ben and quickly swallowed it.

Days later, Rey was in her quarters in the middle of the day having just rebuilt the engine of an X-Wing. She was covered in grease and grime and in desperate need of a shower before the midday meal. Just as she was setting her saberstaff down on the dresser in her room, the familiar feeling of the bond opening prickled up her spine.

Turning to look over her shoulder, Rey saw Ben sitting in his full Kylo Ren persona and knew he was in his throne room attending to official business because he only offered her a slight incline of his head.

Knowing that they would not be able to speak during this bond, Rey turned back to her dresser and a mischievous grin spread across her face. Reaching behind her, she pulled at the purple velvet ribbon that held her hair back in a messy ponytail. As the bow came undone her chestnut hair fell around her shoulders.

Next Rey started at her arm wraps, slowly unraveling the soiled linen from her pale arms. She unfastened her vest and that too slid from her shoulders. Kicking out of her boots, she started to work at the fastenings at her side that held her wrapped tunic closed. It was at this point when she heard the slight mechanical intake of breath from behind her.

Now she turned to him with the most innocent doe eyes she could muster before continuing to unfasten her top. It's soon joined her other clothing on the floor and she stood before him in pants and her breast band. His mask may have been turned slightly to her right but she knew his focus and eyes were completely on her.

Rey removed the rest of her clothing in the slowest and most seductive manner possible. She watched his hands grip the edge of his chair knowing that he was itching to reach out and touch her. Instead, she turned from him and entered her fresher and they both learned something else new about the bond that day.

The bond did not care about walls.

Ben was forced to...no...Ben had the esteemed pleasure of watching the fine mist of the shower coat the tanned skin of his love. He watched beads of water roll down her curves, between her breasts, over her mound.

When Rey realized that he could still see her and his mask was turned directly her way, her mouth popped open with surprise before she smirked, pushing her wet hair out of her face, Rey trailed her hands down her body, resting them between her thighs.

As Ben watched Rey started to rub at her clit, he wanted to growl _mine_. He also shifted in his seat in the hope to conceal the problem now settled into his lap. For a moment he considered using the Force to freeze everyone in the room, cross the small distance between himself and Rey, fuck her into oblivion, and then erase the memories of those in his audience chamber. The amount of power and calculations it would take him to achieve such a feat was almost unmeasurable. Also if he was unable to perform the mind sweep, he would be known as the crazed Emperor that humps thin air, or he would have to kill everyone in the room.

The outcome of this meeting made the success of his New Order hang in the balance, otherwise, he may have considered killing everyone to get to his love. So instead he started to plan his sweet revenge.

The bond closed just as she reached her peak.

A few days later Ben was once more in this throne room, lounging alone in the large chair after an extremely long evening of meetings and hearing the issues of his people. He had removed his helmet just as the last diplomat was leaving and he now sat with his forehead in his hands.

"Long day?" Rey's voice broke through the silence. She knew he was alone for he would never show such an exhausted posture in front of anyone else.

"It's more tolerable now," Ben said with almost a relieved smile. Holding out his hand, he beckoned Rey to him.

She crossed her small quarters and was thankful that the bond gave her enough space to go to him. Once Rey was within his reach she was pulled into his lap and she sat on his right thigh, wrapping her left arm around his shoulders.

Ben buried his face into her hair before resting his head on her shoulder, just taking in her scent, her warmth, and her light.

"How can I help?" Rey asked as she stroked at his hair.

He needed to talk about anything other than reform, having heard Hux's voice grind on about it for hours already, so he decided to lighten the mood and said in a playful tone, "I should punish you for the little stunt you pulled the other day..."

Rey scoffed in jest and leaned back so she could look down at him. Her gaze followed his as he sat up to his full height. "I have no idea what you are talking about," she offered back innocently.

"Perhaps I can _refresh_ your memory," he smirked and moved his left hand between her thighs, cupping her mound.

Her expression flashed surprise before she bit her lip as Ben started to rub her on the outside of her pants. "Oh, that..."

"Yes, my love...that," he whispered dipping his face to capture her lips.

As they kissed, he continued to work his hand between her thighs and she pressed into him, whimper and begging for relief. His right arm curled around her small waist and his hand slid past the tie of her pants, now rubbing at her moist nub with his fingertips.

Rey jumped in surprise when she felt Ben's long fingers slip between her folds and continue to work her into a frenzy. Her body temperature rose as the tightness in her core did as well. She didn't know why he was teasing her, why he wouldn't just take her, so she decided to encourage him. "I need you..." her voice was heavy with want and she met his dark gaze.

"It's not fun being teased, is it sweetheart?" He said as he pulled his hand away from her core, watching her twist in his lap to get some friction. She bit her lip and nodded her head, her eyes pleading with his to continue what he was doing.

Instead, he took her hand and pressed it down in his lap, guiding her fingers over top his stiff cock. Rey's breath shuttered at his desire for her and she almost felt bad for rubbing herself in front of him when he was not able to find his own relief.

So she set her own wanting aside and turned her attention towards Ben, continuing to rub at him through his cool leather pants as he attacked her lips once more. One handed and without the use of sight, Rey worked at the closures of his pants until she had his silken member free and in her warm palm.

Ben groaned against her lips as her lithe fingers wrapped around his cock and began to stroke him from base to head. "I'm sorry I teased you," she whispered across his lips before running her thumb through the moisture collecting at the tip.

His eyes were still dark and Rey knew that her penance was far from paid, so she slid from her perch on his leg, collecting herself on her knees before him. "I'm sorry, _my_ Imperial Majesty."

Looking down at her, so pretty and addressing him formally, he reached out and cupped her chin lovingly. "My Empress."

Keeping his gaze, Rey bowed her head, kissing the sensitive piece of flesh just under the glands and he sucked in a breath, still stroking the side of her face. Before long Rey took him into her mouth, using her lips and the flat of her tongue to bring about moans, grunts, and curses of pleasure.

Ben uttered frantically that he was getting close to his peak but Rey continued, wanting to draw the orgasm from him. His finish was warm and surprising at the back of her throat and she swallowed quickly. His hands were still buried in her hair as he bowed his body around her small head and she lavished him until he was spent.

When she came off his cock, a pearl of his seed painted her pretty pink lips. Reaching out, he used the pad of his thumb to collect it, before slipping the digit into her mouth. "Now, my love, let me take care of you." He pulled her back into his lap and brought her to climax with his large hands.

Each time the bond brought them together they acted like lovesick teenagers, barely able to keep their hands off each other. Ben continued to leave her little gifts and notes, although since they started exploring the physical aspect of their relationship, some of the notes made her blush and flood with want at the same time. She was just thankful that he hadn't tried his hand at poetry yet.

On day three hundred and fifteen Rey was blissfully leaving her quarts after spending the night with Ben trying to bring her to orgasm in every possible way. His lips between her thighs were heavenly and he had finished her off early into the morning by making slow love to her.

So she barely noticed Finn and Rose loitering outside of her quarters.

"It's none of our business," Rose hissed.

"But it's almost every night..." Finn said back in the same quiet tone before catching sight of Rey. "Hey..." he started awkwardly. "You've been looking happy lately."

Rey stopped in front of her friends and smiled, "I think I am happy, or very close to it."

"We're glad that you are finally feeling like you are fitting in," Rose added and tried to drag her fiancé away before he could say any more.

Being pulled part way down the hall, Finn broke from Rose's grip and walked back to his first friend, "Are you seeing anyone?"

His question was blunt and Rey was taken back for a moment. She feared that someone had somehow seen her with Ben. They had theorized that the only reason that Luke had been able to see them together in the bond was that he was Force sensitive and that Ben could be felt in the Force on the island long before Luke barged in on them.

"Why would you ask that?" Rey decided to avoid answering directly.

"Finn," Rose hissed again, coming up beside him again.

"What?" He asked dumbly. "She must know..."

"Know what?" Rey cut in, looking between them.

Finn looked down at his hands and rocked on his feet, "The walls around here are thin and we've noticed...ow!" He cried out as Rose slapped at his shoulder trying to get him to shut up.

"Noticed what?" Rey pressed again.

"Noises," Finn squeaked as Rose pinched at him.

"Noises," Rey said unamused and growing tired of his game of twenty questions.

He waved off Rose who was still trying to get him to shut his mouth, "It sounds like you are having quite the time in there, but we've never seen anyone else but you go in or come out."

Rey turned red, mortified that her...bonds with Ben could be heard throughout the wing. She stuttered a few times trying to come up with a suitable answer before settling on attempting to make Finn feel as uncomfortable as he had made her, "I'm in there alone..."

"Alone?" Finn asked too quickly before realization set in. "Oh….oh! Alone…"

Despite his darker complexion, Finn turned about as red as Kylo Ren's lightsaber blade while Rose palmed her face in dismay.


	10. Part X

**AN: My husband and I (and the 4 dogs) are hunkering down waiting for Hurricane Micheal to make landfall. We are lucky that we are on the west side of the storm, but we are** **expecting rain, wind, and possible tornados. If we have power/internet tomorrow I will put up Part XI and I'll be finishing up Part XII tonight.**

 **Say a little prayer for us and everyone else in the panhandle that is about to be slammed by this storm.**

* * *

 **Part X**

Another month down and Rey buzzed with excitement. She was due to be off world again and was doing another check over the transport that she brought back from Mygeeto. "I should name you," she said to the ship as she ran her hands along the hull.

Ben had come to her in the bond, whispering words about missing her and needing to feel her…really feel her under his finger tips again. So he had set aside a few days on his way to Yavin and they had agreed to meet half way.

She was able to get away from Dantooine without much fuss, offering to stop on Despayre to pick up some new recruits, including another Wookiee. But for the first part of her journey, she entered the Braxant Run hyperspace lane and made headway to Er'Kit.

Double checking the coordinates that Ben had provided her, she set course for the planet in sector M6 and sat back to relax on the day's journey.

As the red and orange planet came into view, Rey groaned and her heart dropped. When she had asked Ben to find a warmer world for their next meeting, she had not meant a desert. Either way, she flew to the dark side of the planet and landed her craft few hundred yards from his Command Shuttle that sat perched between a set of dunes.

So on day three hundred and forty seven Rey shut off the transport's engines and marched down the loading ramp towards the looming figure in black, "Ben Solo!" Her voice carried across the space between them. "You promise to show me the galaxy and all I get is more sand?"

His laugh caught her off guard, but he lunged for her, lifting his love straight from the ground and pressing his lips to hers. "You asked for heat."

She hummed into his kiss, "I guess you will do."

When Rey was placed back onto her own two feet, she noticed movement behind Ben and her saberstaff was lit and at the ready before either of them could blink. The sound of a cocking blaster made her move defensively in front of Ben and she practically bared her teeth at the unseen threat.

Ben placed his hand on her shoulder and ordered his guards to stand down all at the same time. Although he almost wanted to watch his warrior Empress take on his select guard, her fire and passion came off of her in waves, her first instinct was to protect him and something budded deep inside of him. Pride perhaps.

When his guards, dressed in black trooper armor did not heed his more calm command and their weapons were still trained on Rey, he stepped out from behind her. "Would all of you commit treason by standing against your Empress," his tone carried and he reached out his gloved hand, ready to take down any of his men who still wished to disobey.

To their credit, the four guards holstered their weapon, stood at attention for just a breath, before going down on one knee before her, their head hung in respect. "What is the meaning of this Kylo?" Rey now used his political name thinking it would be less confusing to the troopers still kneeling not ten feet from her.

"This is my take on the Praetorian guards of the past. My Knights are too highly trained to bother keeping tabs on me, but any man..." he looked down and stroked her cheek with his gloved hand, "or woman who wishes to one day be considered for Knighthood must prove their loyalty to the Empire and its ruler."

"So you have started the shift away from the First Order?" Rey bypassed the information about the Knights of Ren, only concerned on their plans moving forwards.

While he trusted his guard, conversations such as this were only meant to be heard by Rey, so he held out the crook of his arm, "Your chariot, m'lady," and he gestured towards his Command Shuttle. Next, he turned back to his guard, "Stay with her ship and make sure she wasn't followed."

"Yes, sir," came a swift reply.

"Please tell me we are going somewhere else and not staying on this godforsaken sand hole," Rey whispered up to him as they walked towards the shuttle.

"The planet is not the surprise...the ship is." He leaned down to talked against her ear. "Last time I took you on to my ship, I carried you over the threshold," he now smirked.

Rey gave him a sarcastic look, "Yeah, unconscious and like a sack of potatoes."

"No," he said down to her. "Like a bride," and he swept her up into his arms again. She squealed in shock and flailed her legs for a moment before she fell to giggles and wrapped her arms around his neck, already trying to catch his lips to hers as he ascended the ramp.

"Aren't you scared of your guard seeing us?" Rey questioned once they were in the main hold of the shuttle.

"They were on the same floor as us on Mygeeto and haven't breathed a word about it."

Rey flushed, thinking about all the times she had called out his name during their few days together, "I never saw them..."

"That's the point." He smiled and cupped her sweet face again, still unable to believe that she had once more come to him. "Let's break atmosphere and then I'll show you around."

She followed him dumbly through the ship, expecting to see a crew in the cockpit awaiting Ben's order, but the shuttle was completely empty. Her eye's widened further when she saw him slip into the captain's seat, gesturing for her to take the seat next to him, "It takes two to fly this thing."

"Oh...I just didn't..." she walked over and mimicked his movements, strapping herself into the black leather chair.

"I _am_ a pilot you know," Ben smirked at her as he started flipping switches on the console in front of him. "And I've heard you aren't too shabby at flying either," he mused thinking about the reports of her evading a few TIE fighters on Jakku after stealing the Falcon.

"Most of my hours are logged on a simulator and mainly on crafts from the Old Empire…apart from the transport shuttles that is."

Ben was a little shocked at this information, but took it in and filed it away for a later date before focusing back on the task at hand, "I'm going to need you to lift the landing gear and extend the wings when I say..."

Rey nodded, looking over the console and finding the switches and panels she would need. With a rumble of thrusters, the shuttle jostled some before she felt it shift into the air. Sand flew out around them, the black figures of the guards didn't even flinch as the wind wiped around them.

"Landing gear," Ben said, taking hold of the control stick with his left hand and thruster lever with his right. Shifting his gaze quickly to her, Ben watched her pick at two switches, engaging the motors to raise the landing feet both on the wings and the body of the craft.

They continued to gain altitude, her ship, and the guards becoming small dots in an endless sea of sand and dunes. Ben had been smart with picking their landing point, a small valley that would conceal her shuttle from anyone skimming along the desert surface.

"Wings," Ben commanded, drawing her attention from looking out of the red-tinted windscreen.

Pushing another few buttons, Rey heard the whirling sounds of the wings coming down from their erect position. She looked to him for any other instructions and she had to smile at the look of absolute devotion on his face.

"The controls are your's, my love." He included his head towards the matching stick and lever on the console in front of her.

"Really?" Rey asked, still not believing that she was about to take control of possibly the most recognizable and menacing craft in the galaxy, Kylo Ren's Command Shuttle.

"Take us out into your galaxy," he offered again.

She didn't have to be told a third time and she pushed the thrusters almost to full, causing them both to be pressed into their seats at the sheer force of their forward motion. Rey whooped out in joy and Ben laughed at her giddiness.

They shot through the atmosphere like a blaster bolt and the artificial gravity drives kicked in. Rey continued to put the craft through its paces, pulling the stick to one side causing them to enter into a barrel roll.

When she righted the ship and her hair fell back down around her face, Rey let out a breathy laugh, "This is bloody brilliant, Ben."

"I knew you would love it," he grinned at her. "Now put us into orbit and come here so I can kiss you."

Rey had never followed an order so quickly in her life. She slowed the shuttle's speed down and found the sweet spot a few miles outside of the atmosphere and the craft was switched into autopilot to drift around the orange planet below them.

Her harness came off with a metallic click and she was spanning the five or so feet between the chairs as she watched him shrug off the shoulder belts. Rey sat across his lap, her feet dangling over the arm of the chair and she finally kissed him in the way she had been craving for weeks.

"I've missed you," Ben said before running his fingers through her hair.

"You see me all the time…" she bit at her lip and her gaze wandered his face, "but I know exactly what you mean."

The bond was becoming not enough. They were starting to need more than a minute here or an hour there. She wanted to fall asleep in his arm every night and he wanted her at his side in every aspect of his life. He wanted to properly court her, truly show her the galaxy, ask for her hand, and present her as his forever and always Empress.

Heated Force pulsed around them and before long Rey was sinking down upon him. This had been one of his fantasies ever since carrying her onto his shuttle on Takodana. Though at that time Rey had feared and even hated him, Kylo had wondered what her cries of passion would sound like echoing off the cold walls of his flagship.

So he marveled at the sight of her, rolling her hips into his lap as her finger nails dug into the leather of the chair on either side of his head. Her pace was starting to become rushed and Rey shifted, leaning back and placing her hands on his bent knees, causing him to both hit the spot deep inside of her but also at the forefront of her textured walls with each twist of her hips.

Rey called out her release as Ben devoured her sensitive breasts. She was sure that bruises would form where his teeth had blurred the lines of pleasure and pain. Even with her body limp and spasming with each little touch or movement within, Ben lifted her easily and laid her out on the small portion of the console between the pilot and co-pilot's controls.

She looked breathtaking spread out in the cockpit of his ship, her skin glowed with the intense heat of Er'Kit one sun as it's rays poured in through the viewscreen. Her body still jerked with the after-effects of her orgasm and she almost hit the thruster lever with a flailing arm.

Ben took her legs, crossing them at the ankles before resting them at his left shoulder. Next, he took her arms, running his hands up the length of them and held her wrists, anchoring them above her head before he started to move within her again.

He wrapped his free arm around the tops of her thighs so he could keep her at the edge of the console despite the force of his skin meeting hers. Rey tried thrashed under him, but she was held steady, and she almost cried with need for another high.

Discipline and determination allowed him to bring her over the edge again, breathless and screaming his name, before he released deep within her. Before his breathing could even start to steady, he moved her legs around his waist and stumbled back into the pilot's chair, holding her trembling form to his chest.

"How is it even possible to feel this good?" Rey breathed into the skin of his neck.

"I think this is what we were made for," he replied, stroking his fingertips along her back.

Rey sat back some, looking at his face, "What? Fucking like ash-rabbits?"

His smile was brilliant and his laugh was rooted deep in his chest, "No, my beautiful girl." He now stroked at her face and pulled her lips to his, kissing them playfully. "Loving each other."

She blushed, also thinking that if her body had been made for anyone, it had been made for Ben. After the first few times when it was pleasurable but still slightly uncomfortable accommodating him, Rey's body seemed to mold to his whims. His touch would send off sparks and set a blaze. His kiss would both pull and give her breath. When he joined with her, it was as if she found the missing piece of herself and for the first time in her life felt whole.

Yes, she would agree with him that the Force had made them for each other. The Force had brought them together under strife so when they were able to make amends, able to love each other, even after all of the tragedy of their past, that nothing could stop them from fulfilling their destiny.

So she looked into his eyes and spoke with certainty, "I was made to love you."

"I was made to be yours," Ben answered in kind.

They sat curled in on each other for a long moment and Ben noticed when Rey's breathing started to even out, "Let's go down to our quarters and you can take a nap." He kissed at her temple as she started to slid from his lap.

Rey looked at the collection of clothing thrown about the cockpit, but settled for his cowl, slipping the dark fabric over her head. Walking towards the rear of the bridge she didn't hear his footsteps behind and and turned to look over her shoulder, "You coming?"

Ben was frozen in all his naked glory. Rey…his star, his home, his love, stood before him, dark cowl pooling on her shoulders and fading into the creamy skin of her mid-back and the round swells of her rear.

The poise and elegances in which she stood, Rey may as well have been wearing a flowing gown of red silk about to command armies. When she turned, one breast peered from beneath the woven black fabric, her stomach was toned, slightly rising with each of her breaths, her hips were squared, strong, and a combination of their slick glistened like dew on the light curls that gave modesty to her mound.

At this moment Ben realized that for the rest of his days he would only have one Master, and it would be her.

Walking to her, he resisted the urge to drop to his knees before her, instead just cupping her cheek before taking her hand and leading her further into the ship.

When they stood before a steel door, Ben typed a few commands into a screen set into the wall before lifting her hand and placing it palm down on the screen.

"What are you doing?" Rey asked as her palm was scanned.

"Giving you complete access to the ship."

The screen beeped and then the door slid open and they walked into his private chambers aboard the Command Shuttle. Rey's eyes went wide, the room was three, maybe four times the size of her quarters on the Resistance base and there was a desk in the far corner, a small seating area in the middle, a screen separated what she guessed was the sleeping area and then there was a door on the far side, most likely to a fresher. The wall were not all black like she would have expected, but gray, white, and red also touched many of the surfaces. Lights came to life and Rey would have never suspected that they were in deep space. "This is amazing…" she mused.

"I'm glad you like it. I uh…designed it to accommodate two…" he shifted nervously.

"Designed it?" Rey asked walking over to the desk and running her fingers along the black polished top.

"This isn't the same ship I used on Takodana or Crait. I commissioned it about six months after assuming leadership. I designed it for us…for you."

Rey walked around more, feeling his eyes on her the entire time. There were two couches in the sitting area, two seats at a table she just notices by the wall the door was on, two sinks and an oversized shower in the fresher, two closets, and a bed wider than three of her cots put together.

"I wanted…hoped that when you decided to be with me, that you would _always_ want to be with me. I wanted to show you that I would always have a place for you, that there is no where I will go without wanting…needing you there as well."

If there was anything that Ben Solo made Rey feel in spades, it was loved, wanted, needed, respected, valued, and treasured. So why was her head still telling her ' _not yet_ ' even though her heart was telling her never to leave him ever again?

But apparently, her body wouldn't let her dwell on the thought as she yawned so hard her hands shook. "Let's get you to bed," Ben offered, leading her over to the sleeping area. He quickly pulled on a clean pair of boxers before slipping under the warm covers, pressing her body to his, and cooing in her ear for her to sleep.

Ben held her for a while before getting up but made sure she was still wrapped tightly in the quilt for warmth. He put on some training pants and a black undershirt before going to his desk across the room and settling in to do some work.

During her slumber, Ben had collected their clothes from the bridge and laid hers out on the counter in the fresher, guessing that she would like a shower before dressing again. For a moment he wanted to pretend that this was real. He wanted to think that his Empress had joined him on a diplomatic mission to the Mid Rim, that she would exit the shuttle on his arm and they would, together, bring change and peace to the galaxy.

Her meager beginnings would make her popular in the Outer regions and his heritage would make him unstoppable in the Core. Buried deep in the notes and memos about the progress that he had already achieved, was mention of a woman, a counselor that swayed the ruthless hand of the Supreme Leader into benevolence. Only once their relationship was made public, would he give this woman a name and write Rey into the history books as the Mistress of Peace.

He gleefully awaited the day when Rey would truly see the fruits of their love and their balance.

But for the present moment, he would decline a request from Hux to move his military against a Mid Rim planet and be exactly what Rey needed him to be…patient and present.

She started to stir after just a few hours, sat up and stretched before nuzzling into the cowl still around her neck. "What time is it?" She asked Ben who sat across the room on one of the couches with his datapad in his lap.

"2025," he answered, setting the tablet to the side and walking to the bed, crawling to her spot in the middle of the large mattress, his lips were needy for hers. "Sleep well?"

"I did," but she frowned at him. "You didn't rest…"

"I had some work to attend to."

"You work too much," Rey observed.

"Yes, but the quicker the galaxy can be settled, the sooner we can have our forever." He kissed her again and heard her stomach roll. "Hungry?" He chucked onto her lips.

"Ravenous," she said with as much double meaning as possible. They had just over twenty-four hours with each other this time and she almost didn't want to waste it on food, but her body needed fuel to hopefully be spread out under him for the rest of the night.

Ben had met with her on his shuttle for a few reasons, and while having her completely to himself was one of them, her future safety was at the forefront of his mind. "Get dressed and meet me on the bridge," he said with one more kiss before he turned to redress in his uniform.

The fresher was huge compared to small toilet closet on her transport and she took a few extra minutes to slip under the heated spray of the shower before putting back on her black pants, white tunic, and gray vest. She had started wearing her arm warps less and less, no longer needing the extra protection from the Jakku sun and also feeling more comfortable and confident in her own skin. Some of the thanks went to the breathtaking man who worships at her body like it holds the answers to the questions of the galaxy, but also Rey had started to feel more and more that she understands her place in all of this, and being ashamed while executing the will of the Force would not do.

After she dressed, Rey made her way up to the bridge. Ben was sitting in the co-pilot's seat and she came to stand beside them. They were still in orbit around Er'Kit, the shuttle still on auto. "Are we going back down to the surface?"

"Not yet…I want to show you something," he offered the pilot's chair to her. Once she was settled he reached to the console and pressed a button, exposing another touch screen. "These are access and override panels," he started to explain.

"Like the one on the outside of our quarters," Rey mused.

"Yes, there is this one and then one on the exterior of the ship to access the ramp."

"Why are you showing this to me, Ben?" Rey could hear the seriousness in his voice. He was teaching her something that he thought had the upmost importance.

He reached for her hand, "When we are together, either like this or…permanently, I need you to know how to access and use this ship to get to safety."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "What aren't you telling me?"

He signed, "Hux still controls the military and I at time barely control him. He's a suspicious little leech and has many attempts to bribe my guard for information. My General also doesn't seem to care that I can see his mind, that I know his contempt for me and that he fantasizes almost daily of over throwing me and claiming the throne for himself."

Rey looked down at their joined hands and ran her thumb over his knuckles, "Why don't you just… _take care_ of him?"

Ben slightly jerked in surprise, "I never thought _you_ would be the one calling for his head."

She turned more towards him in her seat, "Snoke needed to die." Her tone was final with no uncertainty. "He needed to pay for what he did to the galaxy and what he did to you." Her eyes searched his, some times at night she still felt his pain from their shared memories. "But Hux is going to be a problem, and if it his life or yours…I would cut him down myself."

With his chest glowing with pride Ben straightened, "If my Empress so commands it, my hand is her's to wield, for his blood is only mine to bear."

Now Rey reached her free hand for his cheek, running her fingers along her mark, her eyes softened. "No, we must not condemn him just for his thoughts. But if he moves against you, against our plan for peace, I will not fault you for the choice you make on the matter."

Closing the space between them, he kissed her softly. The fact that she ever thought that she was not fit to rule due to her humble start was now beyond absurd. He wanted nothing more than to put her on the throne and stand at her side, be her Knight, do her will.

But for now he needed to make sure she would be safe in any situation. So he sat back in his chair and pointed again to the screen, "Your palm was scanned into the system earlier and it will open the ramp and allow you to start and fly the ship. Only you and myself have access to our quarters."

Rey just nodded, absorbing the information.

"I know I told you that it takes two to fly this shuttle, but you are no ordinary pilot, so I want you to access the controls, take us out of orbit, engaged the hyperdrive and get us to these coordinates," he took a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and placed it on the console. "I want you to do this by yourself, and as quickly as possible."

She nodded again, taking the paper and looking at the series of numbers penned across it: 1792.19, 5097.06.

Ben moved from the co-pilot's chair to the back of the bridge, sitting in a jump seat where he could observe her.

"Now Rey!" He barked out, almost sorry when he saw her shoulders jump in surprise.

But she immediately went to work pressing her palm to the screen and pulling the ship from auto. Reaching over to the other side of the console, she flipped off the controls for the co-pilot before coming back to her own set of buttons, switches, and levers.

Grabbing the stick she shifted the craft out of orbit and pushed the trusters, speeding away from the planet. Another switch was thrown to key up the hyperdrive as she punched in the coordinates into the touch screen.

She sat back in her seat as the shuttle lurched into hyperspace. Traveling above light speed outside of the hyperspace lanes was dangerous since the ship's navigation computers had to calculate the fastest course while avoiding both mapped and unknown masses. Rey had total faith in the capabilities of Ben's shuttle, but a simple stray piece of space trash could mean the end of them both.

"Minute-fifteen," Ben said while putting a round timepiece back into his pocket. "Not bad for a ship you have never flown before, but I would like to see you be able to board, access, and be in hyperspace in under a minute."

He walked up to her, holding out another slip of paper. "If you ever need to leave the Resistance and you can't come to me right away, for whatever reason, go here."

More coordinates. 267.85 , -14770.12. "Where is this?"

"Outer Rim, sector L19, a planet called Mustafar." When she just continued to look up at him in confusion he further explained, "My grandfather has a stronghold there. I'll upload your palm to that system as well. But you go there and stay there until I come for you. Don't trust my Knights or my guards. Only me, do you understand?"

"Yes," she hurried out, "but why do we need all of these plans?"

Ben sat back down in the co-pilot's chair. "There will always be the Poe Damerons and Armitage Huxs in the galaxy and I don't want you caught in the cross fire meant for me."

Rey moved to him, curling up in his lap, "I wouldn't be able to exist without you," tears were pooling in her eyes.

Swiping at her cheek as a tear fell, his sad smile didn't reach his gaze, "You must…you will…"

Their heavy mood was shifted when the alarm sounded to notify them that the ship was being pulled from hyperspace and they had arrived at the prearranged destination. "Where are we?" Rey asked looking down at the blue and green planet.

"Noonar," Ben answered simply, tapping on her bottom, telling her without words that she needed to get to the pilot's seat to fly the ship. He also ran his hand through his hair before turning to her, "I was wondering if you would join me on the surface for dinner?"

Rey smirked at him, "Is the Supreme Leader asking me, Jakku orphan, Jedi reject, and Resistance fighter out on a date?"

"No," he said with a light tone, but her face still fell. He reached for her, skimming his fingers down the side of her face, "I'm just a man, hopelessly in love with an amazing woman, and wanting to make sure she is well taken care of, so when I take her to bed later," his gaze turned dark, "she will not wither away with fatigue."

All she could do was swallow thickly, heat and moisture already pooling at her core. "Yes," she whispered. "Yes to all of it."

She was rewarded with a Solo smirk as Ben flipped back on the co-pilot controls and started their descent down to the surface.


	11. Part XI

**Part XI**

The surface of Noonar was dark when they landed and Ben pulled her gray cloak from one of the closets in their chamber before slipping his cowl back over his head. It smelled like her shampoo, which happened to be military grade soap, but is was still her scent and he savored it.

The city they landed in was populated and his ship was very recognizable. Perhaps Ben should have thought this through better, but they just pulled up the hoods of their cloaks and hurried out into the night before too much of a crowd could form.

They ran hand in hand, laughing like kids sneaking out of the house late at night, as they ducked into side streets and alleyways. Not many people had seen the Supreme Leader without his mask on, so once they made it deeper into the city, Rey and Ben slowed their pace and leisurely walked, hands joined and hung between them.

Finally finding a restaurant that boasted local fare, they entered and found a dark corner to sit in. He insisted that she order anything she wanted and he told her about all the different cuisines he had tried in his travels and which spots he most looked forward to taking her in the future.

The meal was amazing and Rey even got to try something called iced cream, which she thoroughly enjoyed. With as much suggestion as possible, Rey ran her foot up his leg a few time, batting her eyes, and need settled on her plump lips. They didn't have much time left together and Rey craved his touch.

Ben bent his head, smiled and laughed down to where her foot was stroke his crotch, "I'll get the check then…"

Back out on the street, they made their way towards the small landing area situated on the outskirts of town. As they neared an increasing number of people had gathered and their voices were all a murmur of wonder. Ben pulled her back into an alleyway and pulled at her hood. "You need to keep your face down, hood up, and make sure that none of your clothing is exposed from under the cloak."

Rey nodded up at him before bowing her head to the ground. The large hood hindered her vision, but it also meant that no one could see her face. The only guidance she had was Ben's hand at her lower back as he ushered her forward.

As the noise of the crowd grew, a voice called out from in front of them, "Make way for the Supreme Leader!"

All she heard was the shifting of feet and clothing as Ben continued to press her forward. Whispers around her overshadowed the fact that the hundred or so people around her were bowing as they passed.

With a wave of his hand, the ramp to the shuttle lowered and he guided Rey the rest of the way up before turning to the crowd, "Thank you, people of Noonar for your hospitality." The ramp closed behind him and he made his way to the bridge.

"How long did you say it should take me to get off world?" Rey pressed her hand to the access screen and looked over her shoulder at him.

"Under a minute."

The engines came to life and she started to spool the thrusters, "Then you better get strapped in Supreme Leader…"

In a fury of buttons and switches, Rey had them off the ground in no time and as the wings lowered and when they just enough clearance where the afterburners wouldn't hurt the people or buildings below, she pulled the trusters to full and they shot away from the small planet.

They broke atmosphere in less than forty-five seconds and Rey keyed in the return coordinates to Er'Kit, pushing the craft into hyperspace.

"Gods," Rey sighed, slumping back in her chair. "I can just see the headlines tomorrow. ' _Supreme Leader whisks mystery woman off Noonar_ '." She ran her hand through the air as if to spell it out. "Let alone the speculation of whether or not I'm your whore…a consort of some kind. It will be assumed that you are looking for a mate and every high blooded Core born woman will be thrown at your feet."

Ben sat back with a smirk on his face, only slightly enjoying her jealous rant, but he was soon caught.

"What are you smiling about Solo? I don't find any of this amusing."

"You are just cute when you are envious of other women who couldn't possibly turn my head."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "This isn't about the influx of primped and proper ladies that will be paraded in front of you. This is about the fact that Noonar is too close to Dathomir where the Resistance thinks I should be."

While Ben knew that Dameron wasn't the brightest star in the sky, he heard stories of his flair for suspicious thoughts and rash actions. He didn't want even a hint of distrust coming to Rey from the people she also considered family, and he couldn't lie to her and deny he wouldn't cut each and every one of them down should they attempt to jail or hurt his love.

Finally to put her out of her misery he sighed, "There won't be any story tomorrow, any hints or questions towards my love life, and defiantly not any _parade_ of women."

All she offered him was a discrediting look, unbelieving that he could assure no trouble from their mad dash to the shuttle.

"It isn't something that I am proud of at this time, and it won't be this way forever, but the First Order controls the news outlets. In time an independent publication may catch wind of the story, but I hope by then it will just prove that you have been a positive influence in my life for months."

"You control…you censor the news?"

"It's mostly to guard our scouting mission, equipment orders, and movement of the important players, but yes, I have a team of media specialist that watch the tickers."

She huffed, "It's difficult to be upset with you when you are logical," her gaze dropped to the floor feeling defeated in her beliefs of autonomy, but then she looked back up at him. "You must promise that you will return freedom to the press once it is safe to do so.

Ben leaned into her space, holding her chin between his thump and the knuckle of his forefinger, "I promise."

"And thank you for protecting my honor…" she whispered into the small space between them.

He smirked, "I plan to do all sorts of things to your… _honor_ ," his gaze raked over her hungrily, "what I am protecting is your hide."

Her brow furrowed and he continued, "Do you doubt that your beloved Resistance wouldn't lock you up and try any means necessary to extract what you learned while in throes with the Supreme Leander?"

Pressing her lips together Rey didn't doubt it, but she also didn't want to get into which side had the moral high ground since she had once been strapped to Kylo Ren's torture table. "I only have one beloved and he's right here."

Ben wasn't sure what he did in a past life to deserve the gorgeous woman before him, because his sins in this life were vast and he would never stop atoning for them. So after setting the shuttle back into orbit, he indeed threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and took her to bed.

After hours of being wrapped up in each other, and a quick but still satisfying shower together, Ben let Rey set a course back to Er'Kit and back to her transport. The landing was smooth and the four guards came out of her ship and stood at attention.

As the ion engines were winding down Rey looked over at Ben, "This wasn't enough time."

"I know," he stroked at her cheek and smiled, "and since I've done a crap job at picking our destinations, how about you pick next time."

Her face lit up, "Anywhere? I can pick anywhere?"

"As long at it's not in Hutt Space, you can pick anywhere."

They kissed in their quarters as Rey pulled a new pair of leggings from her side of the closet. They kissed in the main bay of the shuttle he shifted her pack on his shoulder. They kissed on the ramp and with their feet sinking into the shifting sands on Er'Kit.

He walked her to the gray transport and kissed his Empress as his guard stood steadfast with their backs to the couple. "Let me know when you can get away again and I will meet you anywhere in the galaxy."

Rey nodded and boarded her ship, closing the hull door was becoming more and more painful, but she needed to get to Despayre and pickup the new recruits before Poe sent a search party for her.

So as she left the atmosphere and set a course for the Despayre, she took the small bottle from her pack, shook one small white pill into her hand and downed it without any water.

Despayre was an awful place and Rey was thankful that she was only touching down long enough to refuel and picked up the four new recruits. The Wookiee sat up front with her and they had a pleasant conversation in Shyriiwook. She was happy that Chewie would have another of his kind on the base as only a hand full of people understood him and it could be lonely to not have anyone to talk to.

Rey would know…

Life on the Resistance base was monotonous at best. Fighters would go out on missions and then she was left to fix whatever damage occurred during their planned attacks. She wondered if Ben was ever in the dog fights, wondered if the scorch marks on his shuttle were from X-Wings, if Poe had ever fried upon him. She found herself getting increasingly angry about the celebrations each time the pilots came back to base. They would make tick marks on their ships, one for each TIE they downed.

The loss of life had to stop.

So on day three hundred and sixty-four, while Rey sat in a storage closet, hiding from Rose who was pestering her about being something called a maid of honor, she nibbled on some dried fruits Ben had given her. The vent above her offered some heat from the chill of a mild winter that had settled over Dantoonie.

Her attention was drawn to the steel grate when she hears a raised voice filter through the duct work.

"We have to strike now," Poe's determined voice carried.

"How will we even know he will be there?" Another male voice interjected.

There was a sound of a fist coming down on a metal table, "It's his birthday celebration. It's all the holos have been talking about for days and it would be foolish for the guest of honor to not show up to his own party."

There was a low murmur through the room and then Poe spoke again, "This is our best shot at taking down Kylo Ren once and for all."

Rey sucked in a breath and didn't need to hear any more. She prayed that the Force would open the bond and also cursed herself for declining the comm that Ben tried to give her before they left Er'Kit.

Pacing in her quarters she thought about all the things she had to say to him, how much she dreaded this day, how foolish she had been to think that it would never come. So when the bond opened and he stood before her in full regalia, sans mask, the words that tumbled from her mouth were a surprise.

"You didn't tell me about your birthday."

His otherwise blank expression was broken as he lifted one of his eyebrows at her before turning and looking off to her left, "That will be all for now gentlemen. We can reconvene in an hour."

A long moment later he turned back to her, "Hello there my darling."

"Don't try to sweet talk me," she said placing her hands on her hips in a very Leia fashion. Remembering that his life was held in the balance and she could be upset at him later, she shook her head and waved her hands as if to waft the thoughts away. "That doesn't really matter right now..." she looked at his confused but amused face. "You can't attend your birthday celebration."

"Look, my love..." he started to cross the room over to her, taking her hands in his, "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about it, but this event is more than just a party for me, it's an important gathering of the minds for our New Order."

"You don't understand Ben, you can't go…Poe is planning…" her throat clenched and tears started to spill form her eyes.

Ben's face crumbled and he pulled her to his chest, stroking her head and shushing her calmly, "Okay, okay, I won't go."

Still pressed to his chest, Rey looked up at him, "Come to me instead. Be half way across the galaxy with me where I know you will be safe." Her eyes pleaded for him to agree.

"Of course, my love. You get to pick this time remember." He cupped her cheek and he saw her expression relax with relief.

Rey pulled away from him and moved to her dresser before quickly scribbling down a set of coordinates. She passed the paper to him before placing her hand over his heart, the steady beat under her finger tips set her at ease and she covered the scar on the side of his face with her other hand, "My home."

"My star," he whispered against her lips, only able to kiss her for a tender moment before the bond closed.

Alone in his office, he uncurled the paper in his hands and looked at the series of numbers before chuckling.

Days later he walked unannounced into his General's office. "Hux," his unmodulated voice was deep and echoed through the room. He wanted to smirk when the red head jumped to attention from behind his desk, but instead he just clasped his hands behind his back and slowly paced the room. "I will need you to represent me at the party tonight."

"But sir, the entire purpose of the party is to celebrate _your_ _birthday_ ," the last words came out between gritted teeth. Hux didn't understand why every one was making such a fuss.

"The leaders of all the important clans, tribes, and worlds will be in attendance and I need someone I can trust to make sure that everything runs smoothly in my absence." Ben couldn't trust Hux as far as he could throw him…and that was far with the help of the Force, at least across the bridge of a Command Shuttle if he remembered correctly.

"And might I ask what is more important?"

Now he did smirk, "You can ask whatever you want, but I will choose not to answer. Just know that I have other pressing matters that require my immediate attention."

"Yes, sir," Hux said again though clenched teeth.

Ben turned to walk back to the door before turning one more time, "You will take the Mark II shuttle."

"Sir," Hux inclined his head accepting the order and then he was once again alone with his papers and schemes.

On day three hundred and sixty-six Ben took a generic shuttle away from Coruscant and set course for the planet in sector I13…Jakku.

Rey arrived a day early, parking her shuttle behind her old AT-AT. It seemed like a life time ago that this was her world, that this was her existence. But the deserts still shifted and the wind still wore away at the metal coatings of the ships in the graveyards.

Surprisingly her home was relatively untouched and she spent the extra time removing sand from around her speeder, checking water storage, and getting her stove and flight simulator up and running. Her arm wraps were back in place and her saberstaff hung proudly at the small of her back.

Being back in her old home felt like she was looking into someone else life. She moved around the small space as if it was second nature, but it also seemed so far removed from what she had become. She couldn't be Rey of Jakku any more, while this place had given her a foundation, had taught her to fight and survive, she was now an Empress in scavenger's clothing hiding out on a lowly planet in a lonely sector.

It was mid-afternoon on the next day when she heard the familiar hum of ion engines and she rushed outside, cupping her hands over her forehead in able to try to catch a glimpse of the craft coming to rest next to hers.

For just a moment she feared that he had changed his mind and sent one of his Knights or Guards to deliver the bad news. She knew where the party was being held and the Force be damned, Rey would march right up to him and drag him away herself if it meant his safety.

But she was able to breathe again when she saw Ben walk off the simple transport shuttle. Gone were his formal surcoat, and there wasn't a stitch of black on him, having donned robes similar to those that Luke wore on Ahch-To.

"I don't even know what to say," Rey said as she rushed to him and ran her fingers down the seam of his vest, "but I am so happy to see you."

He kissed her before saying anything else, knowing that is what she needed. "If Poe is planning an attack, he needs to believe that the Supreme Leader is still planning to attend the party."

"Different shuttle…different clothes…" she mused.

"Yes," he smiled down at her, his hands trying to touch every piece of exposed and warm skin. "But please tell me what we are doing on Jakku," he said with a joking tone. After their meet up on Er'Kit, he was sure that Rey would never want to see a sand dune ever again.

Rey shifted on her feet, thinking now that this was a mistake but the words still tumbled from her lips, "I wanted you to know me…all of me…not just my memories. I wanted to show you where I came from."

Gods he loves this girl…While he knew some of her upbringing, had felt her emotions about her past through their connection and through memories, it was something entirely different to see her in the environment. "I'd really like that…" was all he could think of to say to express how honored he was by her opening up.

Truthfully she couldn't take her eyes off him and she wondered if this is what Ben would have looked like if he had completed his Jedi training. The only thing that gave him away was the black cross guard lightsaber that hung on his hip.

Ben felt her ogling him so he pointed to the AT-AT Walker half buried in the sand. "That home sweet home?"

"Yep," Rey said rocking on her feet again and popping the 'p' at the end of the word. "Come, I'll give you the grand tour."

He followed dutifully behind her and first they took a walk around the entire armored vehicle. Rey pointed out modifications that she had made along the way, solar panels here and a secret hatch there.

"Wanna see my pride and joy?" She said with excitement.

"Of course," he answered, taking her extended hand as she pulled him towards the rear of the Walker. Ben attempted to hold in his laugh when she threw back a tarp and revealed red, rusted…thing…that appeared to be held together with just a prayer. But as she stood beside it, beaming with pride, he almost felt bad for chuckling. "What is that?"

Rey's face fell a little, "It's my speeder. I built it myself."

"A speeder…" he mused, thinking that the monstrosity was most likely older than himself.

"I built it…I mean I got it up and running when I was fourteen."

Now, this did impress him. At that age, he was tinkering around with mechanics but his father wouldn't dare let him work on the _Falcon_ and his mother wouldn't let him have his own speeder, saying that he got in enough trouble as it was. So even though her bike didn't look all that pretty, and most likely broke down every other day, it had meant another piece of her freedom from the thugs of Jakku.

"You want to take a ride?" Rey asked with intrigue.

Ben eyed the speeder again and wondered if it even ran after all this time and suspected that it was a death trap on it's best days, but he was polite and smiled, "Maybe later…but why don't we get out of this heat."

She took his hand again and they walked around to the belly of the AT-AT where Ben had to duck through the main hatch. There was barely enough room for him to stand and he looked around the bulk of her living area. A small kitchen was off to the left and a crudely woven hammock hung to the right.

Rey showed him how her water system works and explained how she had wired batteries together to give her little home power. "You are going to love this…" she said moving towards the back of the space and pulling him behind a metal divider.

He whistled low and slow, "How in the hell did you get that thing out here?"

Leaning up against the hulking flight simulator, Rey shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm stronger than I look."

"I know," he said pulling his fingers down the right side of his face over his scar. "Which Destroyer did you pull it out of?"

"The _Inflictor._ It's in better shape, but I did have to take parts from four or five simulators to get it to work." She went to stand behind the flight chair she had pulled out of an old X-wing. "You want to try it out?"

Seeing that she was practically bouncing with excitement, Ben agreed, and took a seat. Rey pushed a few buttons and the machine fired to life. Reaching out his hands, he took the flight stick in his right hand, flexing his grip and rolling the pad of his thumb over the firing trigger.

Rey watched him in awe. His movements were like fluid and he seemed to anticipate the enemy's flight patterns even though the program was run by a computer and he wasn't able to sense human pilots intentions through the Force. Within minutes he had completed the simulation and the words ' _New High Score_ ' blinked across the screen.

"You little shit," she said, pushing at his shoulder playfully. It wasn't that she ever had anyone to play against, but she had beat all the scores saved on the hard drive.

"Having experience flying the real thing helps."

She scoffed and pushed him out of the seat, spending the next half hour trying to beat his score with no avail. As evening approached, she gave up and set about fixing them something to eat. "Is today really your birthday?" She asked while stirring a small pot on her makeshift stove.

"Tomorrow actually."

Bitting her lip, Rey plated their meals, "It is weird that I don't know how old you are?"

"Age never seemed like a deciding factor with us, but if you must know, I will be turning thirty-one."

Rey did a little more math in her head and then turned to him, "Your birthday was two days after Crait."

He snorted, "Last year wasn't the best."

"I'm sorry," she said walking up behind him and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He stroked his finger tips along her wrapped arms and missed being able to feel her skin. "I'm sorry I left you."

"I'm sorry I let you go," Ben replied as he kissed the inside of her wrist.

They ate their dinner outside, sitting on top of the AT-AT, Rey showed him one of her favorite parts of Jakku…the sunset.

As night fell, they were trying to figure out what to do about sleeping arrangements, "We both can't fit in the hammock," Rey offered. "I don't even know if it would hold your weight."

"Are you calling me fat?" Ben joked.

"No, I'm calling you built as hell," she quipped and bit at her lip thinking of what he looked like under his Jedi-like robes.

Knowing all the different avenues that this conversion could go down, all of them led to Rey being naked and sweating. Being determined to sleep in her home with her, Ben told her to ' _hold that thought_ ' and he strode out to his transport shuttle and gathered every blanket he could find.

Entering the AT-AT again, he set the stack on the hammock before tucking one of the blankets under his arm and pulling Rey back outside. Laying out the thick felt blanket on the sand, he patted the spot next to him.

Rey laughed and tucked herself into his open arms as they both laid back and looked up at the clear night sky that was so full of stars that there appeared to be more light than dark.

"See that dim dot right there?" He pointed up above them.

"You mean the star?"

"It's not actually a star…"

"What is it then?"

"That is Chandrila." He said turning his face towards her.

Rey reached up as if she could touch the planet if she tried hard enough, "You were there all along."

"One day," Ben said kissing her temple, "I will show you your place in the night sky of my boyhood home. You were always there, glowing bright and brilliant."

Pressing her lips to his, Rey sighed before tucker herself back into his side. "Jakku's a little more bearable with you by my side."

* * *

 **AN: Hurricane Micheal passed through our area with little more than some wind and rain, but the Panama City area looks like a war zone. This storm is still on the move through Georgia and I'm thinking about the Carolinas, who are still recovering.**

 **So to anyone sitting through stormy weather tonight...here is some fluff.**


	12. Part XII

**Part XII**

They fell asleep under the stars of Jakku and only when the temperature in the desert dropped did Ben pick up his resting Empress and carry her back into the AT-AT where he set up a palette of blankets on the sandy floor. This was possibly the most uncomfortable surface he had ever slept on his entire life, but with Rey tucked into his side, he couldn't care about the lumps under his spine.

The next day he woke to the smell of caf. "I hope you like eggs," Rey called from her makeshift kitchen.

Rolling over on the pile of blankets he groaned. His socks were filled with sand, his scalp felt itchy with sand, he feared to rub the sleep from his eyes. "I hate sand," he mumbled to himself.

"I hope you don't mind, I took some of the grinds from your shuttle. The caf here is even worse than what we have with the Resistance."

"I brought you an extra bag for this exact reason," he now stood and walked over to her.

Rey reached out to him, grabbing on to his shirt and pulling him in for a morning breath laced kiss, "I knew there was a reason that I love you."

"Mmm," he hummed against her lips. "If I had only known a year ago that your love could so easily be earned with a cup of Nabooian coffee…"

"Your rugged looks," she stroked his cheek, "and good heart," she put her palm on his chest, "had nothing to do with it." Rey teased as she stretched up on her toes and kissed him again. "Happy birthday Ben."

"Rey…" he said against her lips. When she just moaned in response, his tone became a little more warning, "Rey…"

"What?" She cooed.

"Your eggs are burning," Ben chuckled as the AT-AT started to fill with the smell of charred food.

Rey cursed and turned off the stove, scraping at the pan to see if she could salvage their breakfast. "I ruined it," she said in frustration. "I wanted to do something special…"

"It's okay," he reassured, slipping his off white tunic over his head he moved towards the door, "I'll go grab us some protein rations."

Cursing again, Rey scraped the burned food into the bin. Any other day she would feel sinful about wasting food. Even burned, her old self would have savored the taste of real eggs, but the mess hall had spoiled her…she took a sip of the heavenly caf…Ben had spoiled her.

And this gave her an idea.

When Ben walked back in, Rey handed him a cup of caf, which he exchanged for a maroon block of pure protein. Before he could utter a word, Rey spoke, "I've been thinking…"

"Oh?" He asked with intrigue.

"I've decided what my first act as Empress will be."

Ben almost choked on his caf. "Is that so," he sputtered out. While they had called each other by official terms in jest or out of teasing passion, this was the first time Rey had said anything close to making plans towards her future as a ruler.

Rey stepped up to him, placing her hand on his toned stomach. "I want to feed the hungry."

Her dream was so fitting and Ben stroked her cheek, "Tell me what you need." He wouldn't deny her any good, any change, any calling the Force or her heart guided her to.

"Really?" Rey asked excitedly. "Just like that?"

"You're wanting to rule…"

"I'm wanting to help…"

"To me, those two are the exact same," his gaze bore into hers. "Tell me what you need."

Thankful that she didn't have a cup of caf in her hands, Rey jumped at him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "I really don't know where to start," she admitted, her face almost level with his.

"How about when I get back, I will have population records sent to you, outlining some of the most impoverish worlds. I can have someone from the agricultural sector be made available to help you."

Her eyes watered. He was doing this for her. Her Ben was helping her to foster change. Her Emperor was letting her rule with nothing but love requested in return. "Thank you," she said simply before kissing him and then sliding back down his body to return to her caf. They needed to eat and get out before the day became too hot.

Ben grumbled with the prospect of not being able to shower but figured that he would be covered in sand for the remainder of their time on Jakku and had plans to take her up against the cramped shower wall in his shuttle later anyhow.

Once they had finished their caf and meal bars, Rey led him around the back of the Walker again, pulling back the tarp to expose the speeder.

"What did you have in mind for today?" Ben asked, still eyeing the decrepit machine as it would explode upon ignition.

"We are going scavenging," Rey said happily as she checked the fuel lines and knocked some carbon off the battery terminals.

He had to shake his head and chuckle. Of course, the rulers of the galaxy were going to descend into the bowels of wrecked Star Destroyers that had been rotting away for longer than he had been alive. But if he could say anything about her harebrained plan, it was that she was allowing him to experience something that he never had in his thirty-one years of life.

The gravity stabilizer on the speeder whirled and Rey was able to push the bike from it's hiding place out into the open. With a sly look on her face, she held out her hand, gesturing for him to get on the bike first. She laughed at his weary expression as he stepped up and threw his leg over the machine. With the grace of a thousand mounts, Rey climbed up behind him, wrapping her arms around his middle as she peeked over his shoulder and pointed to the ignition switch.

It took a few tries, but the speeder chugged to life and Rey pointed to the throttle under Ben's right hand. With a twist of his wrist, they were racing off over the dunes towards the Starship Graveyard.

They spent a few hours exploring the _Inflictor_ and they were even able to find a spare part that Rey needed to fix another Resistance shuttle. Back on the speeder, Ben had to admit that the hunk of junk was actually really fun. He also enjoyed the feeling of Rey's hands pressed against his chest and her laughter ghosting past his ear.

The _Ravager_ was in worse shape, but nothing could prepare Ben for the feeling of insignificance that he felt when standing in the gaping hole of one of the Destroyer's rear thrusters. "Pretty amazing that these things just float through space," Rey mused as she walked past Ben's stationary form.

"Makes me wonder if we put such ingenuity and resources into peace and not into war, would the Force have brought us about to right so many wrongs."

Rey walked back to him, taking his hand, "I would rather not think of a time when you didn't exist, but the mistakes of the past have already been made and we have to be wise enough, strong enough to not make them again."

He continued to be amazed by her. So he took her hand and let her lead him into the belly of the fallen Destroyer.

They seemed to have walked for a long time, spanning almost half of the nineteen-thousand-meter length of the ship. Rey shifted their direction to climbing up a few decks until she ushered him into the ghostly bridge of the _Ravager_.

Ben felt as if he was stepping onto hallowed ground. The command center was frozen in time and if he reached out through the Force he could almost feel the souls of the crew that had gone down with the ship.

"Do you think Vader ever stood here?" Rey asked walking to the end of the command lane and looking out through the hazy view screen.

"He may have…" Ben mused as he went to stand by Rey's side. "This Destroyer only became a flagship after my grandfather's ship, the _Executor,_ was destroyed during the Battle of Endor. He would have never seen this craft in its glory under Commander Rax though."

"Has he ever come to you?" Rey looked up at his sullen face.

"I think perhaps I have been praying to the wrong man," Ben admitted. "Under Snoke, I asked Vader for guidance, I vowed to finish what he started, but he turned to the Darkside for love, love of my grandmother and their unborn children. Like myself, he was swayed by a mentor who looked to capitalize on someone who was conflicted and desperate."

"But he turned…you turned…"

"He died with redemption. He died for the love of his children, and I cannot fault him for that, regardless of the mess that my mother and uncle made of everything." He shifted away from her and moved to the front control panel, placing his fingertips upon it as if to sense the power of the decaying craft. "Everything I thought I knew about him was for nothing…I wasn't put here to finish what he started." He looked over this shoulder at his Empress, "I understand now that I was put here to finish what _we_ started."

How could Rey not love the man that made such enchanting proclamations? So she crossed to him and took his right cheek in her hand. Lifting herself slightly, he bent down to meet his lips to hers. As they stood on the bridge of the old Star Destroyer, the Force around them sang and gifted them both a vision of sweeping images. Rey in a dress of deep green silk and Ben in his in black uniform, in much the same position, wrap up in each other, on the bridge of the ship named the _Redemption,_ as the stars became streaks of blue behind them.

They parted breathlessly with need and amazement of the Force vision. Before she could even blink, Rey started to pull at that belt around Ben's waist, hearing his saber clatter to the floor. Ben's fingers were just a nimble and soon only her breast band separated her supple mounds from his needy hands.

For once, Rey cursed pants as she stepped on the heel of her boot, trying to wiggle them from her feet without breaking contact with Ben's lips as he worked down her neck. The second shoe hit the metal floor of the bridge at the same time as his tunic and Ben now grabbed at her waist and pulled her up his body, her legs wrapped around his middle.

Much like in his shuttle, Ben found the wide expanse of the control console the perfect place to lay out his love. His large hands made quick work of her pants before he went back to palming her overheated skin. Rey's hands were stretched down between her legs, pulling at the ties of his pants and then using her feet to shove them down past his hips.

He thrust into her with ease, her body now utterly accustomed to his size, even though she still felt as tight as the first time. Ben said a quick blessing to the ' _exercises_ ' Rey had embarrassingly told him about a few bonds ago.

Rey's back arched off the console and Ben pulled her breast band down around her toned waist. Twisting the constricting fabric around his hand, Ben used the leverage of the band to deepen his assault between her thighs. Her hand searched for purchase on anything that would keep her rooted in place and ready to absorb each thrust as he hit the spot that made her eyes roll into the back of her head and that caused her to forget to breathe.

Their joining was not sweet or soft. There were no whispers of love or devotion. Ben fucked his Empress on the bridge of one of the Old Empire's last battleships. She clawed at his flanks, begging him to go harder and faster. His fingers dug into the flesh of her hips to the point that she would have bruises. He could feel a piece of scrap digging into his thigh each time he pounded into her and he knew he was bleeding.

Curses in seven different languages fell from Rey's lips as she rushed towards her climax. She threatened his life if he were to stop. She called out his name in the same breath as the Gods. Sweat pooled in all the divots of their bodies and the sounds of slick skin coming together echoed off the durasteel walls.

Ben thought he felt the ship shift in the sand with the force of her orgasm. She cried out as if there wasn't a soul around for miles. Light poured from her and for a moment he wondered if she hovered in thin air. But he kept her grounded…focused…and with a few more deep thrusts, followed her into oblivion.

As she started to come down from her high, Rey thought of all the times she had stood on this bridge wondering about the people that once believed so thoroughly in the Empire that they were willing to die for it. And she considered what she was willing to die for.

But Ray was no longer the frightened and malnourished nobody who's family craved drink over their own daughter. She was no longer under the thumb of ruthless thugs from the Outpost. Her survival no longer depended on the perverted mercy of a bulbous cretin. She was now a powerful Force user matched only by the likes of Ben Solo, whose blood ran thick with Jedi pedigree. She was a secret Empress ruling and enforcing change through the benevolent hand of Kylo Ren. She was a nobody from Jakku who became the unsung hero of the galaxy.

So now, she lay with her beloved, the two designers and defenders of peace, lovers and leaders, Light, Dark, and Balanced, and knew what and who she was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for.

The news of the attack came over the holonet later that evening. They were back in the AT-AT and Rey was attempting to make him a birthday cake when Ben's datapad sounded with multiple alerts. Plucking at the screen, he read aloud, "Supreme Leader's Command Shuttle shot down on way from _Finalizer_ to Coruscant for his birthday celebration. Status of Supreme Leader unknown at this time. Resistance taking responsibility for the attack on the galaxy's Peace Keeper."

Rey gave him an incredulous look, "Galaxy's Peace Keeper?"

"I don't make up the titles and I can't help it if the galaxy loves me." His tone was laced with snark.

"Oh so now the galaxy loves you," she said with a cheeky grin.

He walked over to her as she started to slather a white sticky substance onto two thin cakes she cooked on the stove top. "The galaxy is thankful for what we have done, and when you finally stand at my side they will love you more than they could ever love me. You are an Empress of the people, you are going to feed the hungry, education the forgotten, inspire the downtrodden, and so much more, Rey. The amount of changes that you can bring about is limitless."

Her insides melted and she was weak in the knees when Ben spoke like that. If only they had been permitted time to have a conversation like this before Snoke's throne room. But at that time in their relationship, Rey was more likely to spit venom at Kylo than to listen to his golden daydreams of their future and her potential.

Shaking her head and looking back down at the cakes, she stacked one on top of the other like she had seen done in the mess hall a few times. "They shot down your shuttle..." she changed the subject back to the attack.

"Yes. I needed it to appear as if I was still attending."

"The crew was killed then?" Her eyes were pleading, not wanting to think of who lost their lives.

"I'm not sure, reports from the crash site have not come in yet," he bit his lip knowing that he needed to honest with her. "I asked Hux to take the shuttle down to the party..."

"Hux?" Rey asked in shock. "Hux was on that shuttle?"

"If he followed orders he was."

Rey quickly tried to work through the implications of what she had just been told. "I didn't know that the shuttle would be attacked," Ben tried to defend. "I just needed it to look as if I had arrived. Even you didn't know when or how they would strike."

"You're right...I didn't. I just can't believe that they would be as cowardly as to not care about the crew...how many do they need to kill to try to get to you?"

"I don't think you want the answer to that," Ben said with a depressed expression.

She huffed and set down the knife a little too roughly, it made a metallic clack against the steel bench. "No, I'd rather not, otherwise I might just really try to take _General_ Dameron down a few pegs." She sighed almost exhaustedly, "I'm sorry, I've ruined your birthday with all of this..."

He took her shoulders in his hands and turned her towards him, "You didn't ruin anything." He tipped her chin up so that she would look at him, "You saved me. You brought me to your home..."

"You are my home..." Rey interjected.

"You showed me a part of yourself that not many have seen. I quite think that this is the best birthday I have ever had," he gave her a genuine smile so that she would know that he wasn't just placating her. Ben ducked his head down more, catching her gaze again as she tried to lower it, "Why don't we try some of this cake and try to put the worries of the galaxy away for a night."

Her smile was sad but understanding, "Let me guess…you want to be just a man in a downed AT-AT with the woman he loves, trying to choke down this sad excuse of a birthday cake."

"Something along those lines," he gave her a smirk before pressing his lips to hers.

Instead of cutting off slices, they went to sit back outside on the Walker with the whole cake, each digging a fork into the stacked sweet. Ben took the first bite and hummed. Rey looked at him with bated breath unsure if he was surprised or disgusted.

"This is actually really good, Rey. Thank you," he forked another chuck into his mouth.

Rey finally used her own fork to try the cake. The taste wasn't as decadent as the chocolates that Ben had given her, but it was sweet and the texture was right. They ate until their stomachs hurt before they laid back to once again to watch the night sky.

"You know I have to leave tomorrow," Ben said up into the abyss.

When she didn't reply, Ben spoke again, "I will need to make a live and public appearance to prove that I am unharmed."

"I know..." Rey finally said and then shifted nervously, "What will you do?"

"About?"

"What will you do to the Resistance? Everyone will expect you to retaliate since they made a public claim on the attack."

Ben reached for her hand, "How would you handle this? If you were completely mine..."

"I am completely yours," Rey turned her head towards him with a furrowed brow.

"But you're not," he defended. "Your heart...your body," he reached out for her, barely grazing his fingertips along her arm, "may be mine, but my mother's ideas and your friends still hold pieces of your mind and soul."

Rey was quiet, unable to deny his claim. "Finish your thought..."

He sighed and turned back to look up at the sky, "If you were completely mine if you were the Empress at my side, and an attempt was made on my life...what would you do?"

Many different outcomes washed through her mind. The quick to anger, quick to act budding Jedi in her would pull her saber and advance a counter-attack at once. The maturing leader in her would want to strategize and ensure that justice was seen. But the simple woman in her, who couldn't think of life without the man she loves, that would bend the galaxy to save her soulmate…that simple woman was still conflicted between retribution and salvation.

For a moment she thought that this was the reason that Poe had not included her in the command of the Resistance. Perhaps he saw that she would be unable to make the hard choices, her Light preventing her from seeing that sometimes the few had to die for the benefit of the many. But who were the many that would benefit from Ben's death? Were Poe and the Resistance command so blinded by past hate that they can't see the good that is being done?

She also didn't envy that soon the First Order command would be looking to Ben to make a decision about the attack. The Resistance had planned and executed an attack on the Supreme Leader, the First Order's top General had been, at the very least, gravely injured and the counsels would be calling for blood.

With a large inhale Rey conceded, "I truly don't know. The Resistance has become fanatical, many of the new recruits are high born, from families displaced by the dissolution of the Senate, pandering to be brought back into power." She looked over at him and his gaze was still towards the stars but his brow was pinched. "They don't want the good for all, they want the good for themselves."

"Is it time for the Resistance to go?"

"Peacefully perhaps, but not from ion canons shot from orbit."

He finally turned to her, "If anyone ever attempts to hurt a hair on your head…" his breath shuttered. "I wouldn't hesitate to strike them down with brutal force."

Rey's smile was partly loving and partly sad, but she still reached for him and placed her hand on his cheek, "I know. But I want you to give me some time…when I go back, to assess their reaction to their plans failing. I need to see if this will just intensify their hate and cause them to be even more reckless. I want to try to get them to see the good that your New Order is doing."

Ben was tight-lipped, wanting dearly to correct her, saying that it was _their_ New Order, that her hand and heart swayed almost every decision made. But instead he just nodded, allowing her time, "You know I will give you anything you desire."

Again not wanting to spoil his birthday and their short time together by talking about the sad state of the relations between the Resistance and the New Order, Rey rolled closer to him, "I desire you." She kissed his still tight lips and felt them relax and purse under hers. "Make love to me Ben," she cooed and ran her fingers through his hair.

He let his actions answer such a sweet request, rolling her on to her back as he covered her body with his. They made love on the top of the AT-AT that was Rey's sanctuary for many years. It had been the first place she considered home and now as she pawed at his pitted but warm skin, pulling his body impossibly closer to her, she knew without any uncertainty that her home had always been and would always be, Ben.


	13. Part XIII

**Part XIII**

True to his previous thoughts, Ben took her to the small fresher in his shuttle, washing her body the best he could before lifting her and taking her once more against the wall. While sex through the bond was enough to hold them over, being with her in the flesh was beyond imagination. Every touch felt more grounded, where he thrust into her felt hotter, tighter, every detail of her body was available to him and not loosely interrupted through the Force.

They sat on the ramp of his shuttle, a blanket wrapped around their shoulders as they watched the sun rise over the desert planet. "Our lives are about to get complicated, aren't they?" Rey asked looked up at his glowing face.

"They don't have to be," he said with a sigh and pulled her in closer to his side.

"You know that's not true…" Rey played with a wayward sting of the blanket and thought about why she was going back at all. She cared for Finn and Rose and Chewie and she wanted to make sure they would be safe through any retaliation the New Order felt the attack warranted. "Promise me one thing," she spoke down into her lap.

"I will try," his voice was guarded, knowing that there were certain things that he could not guarantee her.

Looking up at him now she saw the conflict in his features, "If you have to attack, if you have to bring someone to pay for the attempt on your life, let me know so I can get my friends away in time."

He chewed on his lips for a long moment, looking out at the rising sun, "Poe will have to answer for his deeds, he gave the order, planned the mission, I may not be able to allow you to save him."

"I understand that," Rey said looking down again. "But Finn and Rose are engaged…they could really make a life for themselves away from the Resistance. And Chewie…well, he's family."

"So he is…" Ben reached over and wrapped his large hand around hers as they were clasped in her lap, "If I ever tell you to leave the base, don't second guess, don't stay and fight, just take your friends in any manner you need to and you get off Dantoonie." He squeezed her hands, "You understand?"

Rey looked up at him and nodded. "Thank you, Ben."

Just as the sun fully crested the horizon, Ben tucked her against his chest as he kissed her forehead, cheeks, lips, pulse points on her slender neck. "Please be careful," he whispered into her hair. "Poe will be very unsettled when I make my appearance later today. He will be searching for a mole, he will be on a witch hunt and you need to keep your head down."

Rey agreed and they shared one more lingering kiss before she stepped off his shuttle and stood next to the AT-AT. Pulling up the wrap cowl over her head, she shielded her face from the sand as Ben's craft lifted off and then soared through the clear cerulean sky of a Jakku dawn.

Walking back into her old home, she looked around longingly. While she had so many unsorted memories of this place, times of injury and near starvation, time of fear and such loneliness, she now had new memories that touched almost every surface. This place had almost ruined her, but it had also prepared her for what was to come and for that she was thankful.

So with one last look, she closed the main hatch of the Walker before boarding her own shuttle and watching that chapter of her life disappear as she approached the atmosphere.

Ben had been right and the Resistance base was in absolute chaos when she arrived, not with disappointment but rather with an expression of victory. _They didn't know yet,_ Rey had mused to herself.

"Rey!" Finn called as he ran up to her, "You missed out on a good one!" He grabbed some of the supply crates that she was attempting to pull from the cargo hold of the gray shuttle.

"What happened?" She asked dumbly.

"We got him…we finally got him," Finn almost had tears in his eyes.

"Who?" Rey was still playing coy.

"Kylo Ren. The big cheese himself," he said with a puffed out chest. "Poe's intel was good and we took down his shuttle too. A ship like that you have to assume that the guy was compensating for something," Finn laughed at his own joke.

Rey tried to muster her best smile, "That's really great…" and knew for sure that Ben had absolutely nothing to compensate for.

Finn must have seen her unease, "Look Rey I know that you tried to save the guy and that he was Leia's son and all, but he had to go. You know that right?"

She had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from screaming at Finn that he was the blindest and most foolish man she has ever dared to call a friend. Not trusting the words that would fall from her lips, she just nodded her head.

"Hey everyone!" A crew chief called from across the hangar. "They are broadcasting the explosion again."

Rey walked with Finn over to a large screen that was displaying a female news anchor, and indeed they replayed a recording of the Command Shuttle coming out of orbit and down into the city center. Rey noticed right off that it wasn't Ben's newest shuttle and tried to hide her smirk at how clever he was.

As the shuttle lowered the landing gear and the wings started to fold, a rocket was fired from the ground and the ship exploded into a fireball, crashing the final few hundred feet to a landing pad. Rey jumped at the sight of it and a cold shiver ran through her body thinking how close she had come to losing Ben and everyone else around her cheered.

The anchor came back on, "And now we go live to the Coruscant Medical Center where Kylo Ren has just finished meeting with doctors to discuss the recovery of General Armitage Hux."

The hoop and hollers faded as everyone watched in disbelief as Kylo Ren strode out of the hospital entrance and up to a prearranged podium.

"That can't be him…they just put a tall guy in his helmet," someone from the back called out.

Once Kylo stood at the podium, his glove covered fingers gripped the sides of the metal frame before he lifted both of his hands to the side of his head, unlatching the mask and then pulling the helmet from his head. Gasps sounded around Rey as they all watched Kylo set the helmet down on the podium.

"Is that him?" A woman asked Finn.

"It looks like him, but Rey has seen him more up close…what do you say?" He turned to the Jedi.

Rey worked her mouth a few times but nothing came out, she almost wanted to blush at knowing how up close and personal she knew Kylo Ren, having memorized every freckle on his face, but instead she just stammered, "That's him…I gave him that scar. It would be hard to get right on a double."

They all fell quiet again as Kylo started to talk.

"Yesterday the terrorist group known as The Resistance carried out an attack on my personal shuttle. It has been confirmed that I was their intended target but I was called away to other matters and was unable to attend the celebration, hence was not on the transport when it was so inhumanly shot down.

"The New Order's General Hux was aboard the shuttle during the attack, he is alive but in critical condition. Those aboard that perished included the crew of four, Lieutenants Klakk and Waurie, Captain Gorgiou, and Navigator First Class Saretti. Two Troopers, TN 3498 and TN 103 also lost their lives. Additionally aboard was the Ambassador from Kuat, Aisha Zadane who leaves behind Darael Zadane, husband of seventeen years and three children, Bri, Rogmi, and Merisee who is just four years old.

"On the ground, five civilians working on the landing deck died as a result of horrific burns caused by the explosion and falling debris. Homes and businesses on the upper, mid, and lower levels were damaged as a result of the attack, totally figures as high as five million credits."

He sighed with a heavy head and pinched the bridge of his noes, "I come before you today with this report to illustrate that attacks on me, on the New Order, have a much broader reach. Twelve people lost their lives, husbands lost wives, mothers lost sons, children lost parents, all at the orders of the renegade General of The Resistance, Poe Dameron."

A photo of Poe from when he was first captured by the First Order was flashed up on the screen. He looked bloodied and crazed, the perfect picture of a man off-kilter enough to plan such an attack.

"My deepest sympathies go out to the families who lost loved ones and work to rebuild affected parts of the city has already been set forth." He paused again, setting his hand atop the helmet that was still perched on the podium. "As a result of this attack, and with concerns of the unrest in the galaxy that The Resistance has caused, I am here to announce the beginning of something new and different. A New Order.

"Our New Order has already freed enslaved worlds, cut out the corruption of the New Republic Senate, abolished cartels in the Outer Reaches, and have established programs for health care and education. Our newest program will address issues of agriculture," his lips slightly smirked, "assuring that no child will ever go hungry under _our_ rule."

Rey had to cover her mouth with her hand as she tried to not let her smile show in her eyes.

"Gone will be the title of Supreme Leader along with the callous and cruel ways of the First Order. I am pleased to usher in a new era of peace and prosperity. From this day forth, I will lead the galaxy towards balance as Emperor Ren of the New Order."

Through the screen, cheers from the crowds that had gathered outside of the hospital to witness his address could be heard. Within the Resistance hanger, only hushed murmurs flitted between few. Somewhere far down a hall, Rey head a cry in anger along with something large hitting the floor, or maybe a wall.

Poe came storming out into the hanger yelling out in anger, "We tried to kill him and now he is announcing himself as Emperor?"

"Sir, you heard yourself…" a very brave Command member spoke. "He was supposed to be on that ship."

"But he wasn't, was he?" Poe sneered and then looked around the gathered masses with narrowed eyes.

Rey could see what was going through Poe's mind even without the Force. He was trying to speculate if Kylo had escaped death by mere happenstance, or if they had a mole in their midst. She attempted to keep her expression as concerned and surprised as those around her.

The next few weeks were uncomfortable around the Resistance base. Poe, as Ben had put it, was on a witch hunt for anyone who may have leaked the plans for the attack or if they even had implanted spies from the First…no…spies for the New Order.

Part of Rey felt as if she was betraying her friends, especially since she had started to read the thoughts of the Commanders whenever she got the chance. It had been pure luck that she overheard their last plans for the attack and she wasn't going to leave anything else to chance. To her, it wasn't enough that she had saved Ben, because twelve other people died and she was unable to do anything to prevent their deaths. It left her feeling helpless and even more lost.

Ben also worked to keep his personal calendar known to just a select few and refused to make any other planned public appearances until his council could come up with a reasonable plan to bring those responsible for the prior attack to justice.

The bond still opened every few days and Ben helped Rey work through some of the information sent to her datapad about food resources and population reports. Some nights they joined, gently when they needed comfort or roughly when they needed a release and some nights they just held each other until the bond cut out.

On a chilly night, when Ben had asked ' _sabers or sex_ ', Rey had surprised him and answered, "Sabers."

With a raised eyebrow, Ben had her lead the way, knowing by the power of the Force that he would end up in his training room again. He was back on the _Finalizer_ and would be for another two weeks before he was due back on Coruscant for a legislative committee meeting.

Rey wore the grey leggings she had taken from her time on Mygeeto and the woven green cowl that Ben had gifted to her. Her fingerless gloves were also on her hands as winter had settled on Dantooine. Her breath showed in the air with each exhale and her cheeks were tinted pink.

"How is Hux doing?" Rey asked, pulling her saber from the small of her back and performing the push/twist movement that would separate her staff. She had been practicing using it as a two-handed weapon and wanted to show Ben.

"More machine that man and I'm starting to feel even more pity for my grandfather."

Rey nodded, as they had talked about the downfall of Anakin and his fight with Ben's namesake on Mustafar. She had thought about what a sad and lonely existence Vader must have had, presuming that his wife and children were dead, being kept alive with a suit, his arms and legs robotic and the thought of phantom pains from having his limbs burned off sent shivers through Rey's body.

Ben had also told her that once Hux had been stabilized it was realized that he would need robotic prosthetics for his right arm and leg and that he had also lost his left eye. Burns covered most of his body and batca had only been able to do so much. His face was disfigured and half of the pale hair was missing from his head.

"He was finally removed from the tanks early this week and they plan to start fitting the prosthetics when his skin has completely healed which should be…" but he was cut off when Rey advanced on him, using his bare hand to slap away the hilt of her left saber before he called his cross guarded hilt to his palm.

The sound of three hissing sabers echoed off the trees of Rey's clearing and also the steel walls of Ben's training room. "You're fighting dirty tonight, my love." He cooed at her as he sent a flourish of parries her way.

"Your enemy will never fight fair, you taught me that," her speech came out in grunts as she blocked his blows before advancing on him again.

"I'm glad you were listening," he smirked before Force pushing her back ten feet.

"Now who's being dirty?" Rey called out as she picked herself back up from the grass, holding out each hand as her saber zipped to their rightful places.

Ben twirled his saber, red sparks flying in the cold air, and he sank down into a ready stance, "You started it."

"I guess I should be the one to finish it then," she quipped before igniting her sabers again with the double snap and hiss as the unstable kybers vented. Steam rose from the two exhaust ports and Rey moved her left hilt into a backhanded grip, before charging at him again.

They both enjoyed to end their bonds breathless and even though this time it was because of saber and not sex, they were both left satisfied and drenched in sweat.

It was day four hundred before Rey felt comfortable being off-world again for any amount of time. It had been over a month since the attack and there were no other plans made or even thought of from Command. Ben had slipped her coordinates during their last bond and as she typed them into the navigation pad she felt a little deflated.

Jedha was a smaller planet, a moon really, and it was covered in sand, but instead of the sweltering heat like Jakku, Jedha was as frigid as Mygeeto. Perhaps she had to spell out the types of worlds she wanted to visit because Ben apparently was not getting the hint.

But she was desperate to see him after thirty-two days apart so she would take the cold as long as she had him to keep her warm.

His Command Shuttle wasn't hard to miss on the tarmac, and Rey set her ship down next to it. Gathering her green cowl around her neck and pulling the hood up to conceal her face, she stepped off the loading ramp and walked past the four guards who bowed to her.

Ben was sitting just inside the ramp to his ship and felt her irritation through the Force before he even saw her. "Another cold planet," she spoke loudly just as her head came into view. "Really Ben?"

"I've missed you too, sweetheart," Ben chuckled as he stood and walked to meet her at the top of the ramp, attempting to kiss the angry expression from her face.

"Ben, I mean it," Rey practically pouted into his kiss.

He had to laugh again because his teasing disregard for her feelings just upset her more. "We're not staying here," he whispered so low that she barely heard him.

Jerking her head back from him, Rey looked at his face with a concerned and confused expression. "Since our time is so limited, I figured that we could ride the rest of the way together," he attempted to ease her concerns.

"Oh," she said softly, her expression relaxing and a small smile pulling at the corners of her lips. Her defensive and quick to anger moods sometimes hindered her in the ability to remember that Ben had become quite considerate when it comes to her wishes.

Ben knew that one of the reasons Rey was able to get away from the Resistance base for their meetings was by using the excuse of going on supply runs. So he leaned down again placing a soft kiss to her temple before saying, "I'll give your list of needed supplies to the Port Master and your shuttle will be loaded and ready to go by the time we return."

"So where are we going?" She bounced excitedly on the balls of her feet after handing over a manifest.

"I was thinking that since last time you took me to see where you came from, that I would show you where I was born."

"Chandrila?" Rey asked in awe, thinking back to the times when Ben would tell her stories from his boyhood and her mouth might have watered at the memory of the chocolates.

"Well, maybe I should say where Kylo Ren was born..."

"The Academy?" Her mind flashed back to the visions that Anakin's saber had given to her and she didn't know if a charred temple where younglings were slaughtered was a place she ever wished to visit. Her distressed expression must have given her away.

"No, but how about you stop asking questions and let it be a surprise and I promise it will be warm."

"Fine," Rey conceded as the four guards started to walk onto the shuttle. "They coming with us?" She jabbed her thumb over her shoulder at the black-clad men...at least she assumed they were all men.

Ben nodded while taking her hand, "Ever since the attack, I was advised to always keep them with me."

Her face puckered in distaste and when Ben tilted his head as if to ask what was bothering her, she answered the silent question, "I'm not used to us having an _audience_ on our trips..." She bit her lip and may have even blushed since they had a tendency to strip down and go at each other where ever and whenever the mood struck.

His smile was knowing, "They will mostly confine themselves to the bridge."

Rey frowned again, "Does that mean that I can't fly the shuttle?"

Gods he loved this woman, "Your command is answered only second to my own. If you wish to pilot the shuttle, the Captain's chair is yours."

Her face lit up, "I want to fly."

"Then you better go tell Arlan to vacate your seat." As he watched her scamper off to the bridge he sighed, their limited time together made moments like this even more special, but how he wished that he could watch her boss around his guard every day. Pulling his hand through his hair, he thanked the Force again for bringing the _girl with the droid_ into his life.

When he walked onto the bridge, Rey was indeed in the Captain's seat and Tyris was strapping himself into the co-pilot's seat.

"Sir," Arlan said removing her helmet. "Her Imperial Majesty insisted on flying."

"So she did," Ben answered with a smile before strapping himself into a jump seat at the back of the cockpit.

The three other guarded followed suit before Rey called over her shoulder, "Everyone strapped in?" With just grunts in reply, she grinned back at Ben, "How fast did I get us off-world last time?"

"Forty-five seconds," Ben said pulling the pocket watch from his surcoat, knowing her intention. "You better hold on," he whispered to the troopers sitting next to him.

Rey plucked at the console and the access screen came out, her hand hovering over the scanner until she heard Ben call out ' _Go!_ '.

The longest part of the sequence was waiting for the shuttle to grant her access to the controls, but once the ship was hers, Rey was off the ground, lowering the wings, and zipping towards the atmosphere in seconds. Ben only stopped the clock when she was far enough away from the planet to engage the hyperdrive, but since she didn't know where they were going, she couldn't program in the coordinates.

She looked back at him excitedly, "Forty-two seconds." Ben said with an approving smile. Davin looked like he was ready to vomit in the helmet that sat in his lap, and Cale looked like he was ready to go again. Arlan just let out a low, impressed whistle.

Rey clicked the release on her harness and let the shoulder straps fall behind her as she stood. "She's all your's Arlan..."

"Thank you, Empress," Arlan addressed as she walked towards the vacant seat.

"I asked you to call me Rey."

Arlan ghosted a look at Kylo, feeling unease with such an informal address, especially in front of the Emperor, but he just nodded, gesturing towards the Empress as if saying, ' _Better to do as she asks_ ' or ' _Neither of us will win this one_ '. So Arlan nodded in reply before turning back to the Empress, "Thank you, Rey."

Standing in the doorway of the bridge, Rey turned to Ben, "I'm going to retire to our quarters for the remainder of the journey." Her eyebrow slightly raised, she was basically pouring lust through the bond.

As Rey turned to walk into the main hold, Ben give a tight-lipped smirk into his lap, for he often didn't act like a nutty fool in front of his guard. But he stood all the same and went to follow after his Empress.

"Have fun, sir," Cale quipped from his seat. He was next in line to become a Knight, so he had been spending more time around the others and with inductions, came the ability to have a brotherly rapport with his Master.

With a wink, Ben followed the pulse through the Force that would lead him to his love.

* * *

 **AN: I love writing these two all fluffy and in love! I am currently wrapping up Part XV so it still may be a few days between updates, but I will get them up as soon as I can. I am also going back through and doing some edits...nothing that would change the story but just fixing typos that I might have missed the first time though.**

 **I have four more "moments" planned out for them and each one is taking me 2-3 parts to get through. Since I know so many of you are worried about when this story will come to an end...I wanted to let you know what to look forward to.**

 **Thank you as always for all the love and support.**


	14. Part XIV

**Part XIV**

Ben took long strides to the door of their quarters and used his palm print to gain access. As the door closed behind him, his hastened motion was brought to a halt as Rey lay completely nude across their bed. Her skin was more pale, winter on Dantooine would soon be melting into spring and he longed for the tanned glow of her toned legs. Even though now the freckles that dusted her nose and cheeks were more pronounced and he wished to trace each with his fingertips, kiss each with his lips, memorize each with his dark eyes.

His cowl and surcoat were being shed from his body without any thought as he left a trail of black robes towards the sleeping quarters. By the time he reached the bed, only his boxer briefs remained and he crawled over her supine body.

"Will you help me with something Ben?" Rey said looking at him with such longing.

He groaned as he could only hope that it involved his face buried between her thighs. So he reached down, running his warm palms along her curves as he dipped his head and kissed along her collar bone and between her breasts. "Anything, my love," he finally spoke, nipping at her tender flesh with his teeth.

"Great!" Rey said as she pushed at his shoulders, sat up fully and called her datapad to her hand with the Force. "I was wondering if you could help me understand some of the figures that Mr. Triblen sent over earlier this week."

Ben was gobsmacked as he too sat back, looking from Rey who was prattling on about population numbers of some world in the Parmel sector and the large situation in his shorts. He swallowed, "You really want to go over your food assistance project…right now?"

"Yeah…" she looked up at him with her most innocent face, "Why? Did you have something else in mind?"

As the gears in his head started to turn, he sighed, giving her the sense that he was giving in. "What did my agricultural counselor have to say?"

Rey frowned just slightly, secretly hoping that he would have put up more of a fight, but looked back down to the datapad, "He says that in some sectors, the issue isn't food shortages per se, but it is getting perishables…fresh foods to the planets before they rot…" She squeaked as Ben grabbed her ankle and pulled, causing her to lay back again. "What are you doing?"

" _I'm_ hungry," he smirked before kissing up the inside of her thigh. Looking up at her over her mound he asked sweetly, "Would you deny a starving man?"

Her lips fell open and her breathing picked up, "No…I would not."

Ben pushed against her thigh, spreading her legs further before stretching out on his stomach between them. "I'm still listening…please continue," he said as he planted kisses to the skin where her legs met her core.

She whimpered, but went on, "Many of these 'food desert' worlds are living strictly off of rations and protein bricks."

He wrapped his lips around her clit and hummed in response, the throaty moan that she produced made him smile against her bud. "So what do you propose?" He asked, running his thumb between her folds, feeling the moisture starting to pool at her entrance.

Rey quickly realized that her plan to tease him had backfired in the most spectacular fashion. "I uh…I…" she groaned as he slid his thick thumb into her. "Kriff, Ben."

"Surely you have thought of something…" he teased as he continued to lap at her core.

Her breath caught as he replaced his thumb with his middle and ring fingers and started to stroke at her inner walls. "Maybe…ugh…since these worlds are in mid and outer regions…oh Gods…" she tried to take a few calming breaths but he was working her body with precision. "Since they were overrun with cartels and smugglers…" the sheets were gripped tightly, "and you put a stop to them…" her back arched off the bed as he sucked on her clit.

When he felt her legs start to shake on either side of his head, he pulled his lips from her and halted his fingers, "Finish your thought."

Rey popped her head up from where it had been thrown back, her expression pained as her core throbbed for release. The small mounds of her breasts rose and fell with heaving breaths. "Only if you promise to finish what you started…"

In reply Ben curled his fingers within her and slightly pulled forward, compressing the spongy tissues at the front of her core. Her eyes rolled back in her head and her body involuntarily jerked. "I promise…" and he stilled again.

"Transports carrying food were being boarded and robbed so the cartels could double the price and sell it back to the same worlds it was intended for…but now that the cartels are being policed, we could offer TIE escorts…" he wiggled his fingers and she bit at her lip, "to ensure that relief goods get to the people and not the crime bosses."

"Very good, my love," Ben cooed and started to rub his fingers deep within her again.

"Gods, Ben," she breathed and gripped his hair in her hands, bringing his lips back to her bud, "just make me come…"

His chuckle vibrated his tongue against her clit and her hips jumped. He snaked his free arm under her leg before running it up her body and pinching at her dark blushing nipple. The pulling from within her, the sucking of his lips, and the pinching of his fingers proved to be too much for his precious Rey and she peaked, calling out his name and cursing in Teedospeak, just as a Jakku Empress should.

Before she could come down from her high and while she lay boneless and sated, Ben slid his hard length into her still quivering heat and the most lovely of moans escaped her lips. Now it was his turn to curse at the feeling of seer tightness and words that his Uncle Chewie taught him fell from his lips and into the crook of her neck.

Even in the bond, it had been two weeks since they came together and Ben knew he wasn't going to last long. So he shifted her hips, catching her right leg behind the knee and pressed it up to her chest as he made swift and deep thrusts into her.

Rey wasn't sure when her first orgasm ended and the second began, but as her body tighten and her lungs forgot how to take in air, Ben rutted in deep and grunted out his release. After a long moment as his heart slammed against his ribs, he slid out of her and rested his head upon her chest, listening to her heart hum with just as much force.

She reached up with pleasure heavy arms, carding her fingers through his hair and started to hum the lullaby that she had on Mygeeto. Ben sank deeper on to her body and before long she felt the soft puffs of breath as he drifted to sleep.

Allowing him to sleep as long as her body would allow, Rey stroked at his hair and back for over an hour before pushing at his shoulder, "Ben..." she whispered. When he grunted in reply she pushed again, "I have to pee...you will need to let me up."

Ben just grunted again and lifted himself up slightly so she could slide out from under him. She grabbed her bag on the way to the fresher and her bladder was thankful for some relief. Looking in the mirror she appraised her body, not as thin as when she had left Jakku, but still toned from hours of training per week. Turning to the side she ran her hands over her lower abdomen...thinking...wondering...considering...before shaking her head and taking the small bottle from her bag. She used water from the skin to swallow the little white pill and she patted her lips dry with a dark gray towel.

Back out in their quarters, Ben had managed to wiggle himself under the thick quilt and Rey carefully slipped in beside him. His strong arm came around her waist and he pulled her back to his chest, nuzzling into her neck. "You still taking those pills?" His voice was laced with sleep. He had continued to supply her with them, still with the understanding that it was her choice.

"I'm not ready yet," she said out into the emptiness of their room.

Ben just grunted, slightly disappointed but knew that they had plenty of time to start a family in the future. So, for now, he just spread his wide hand across the skin that stretched taut between her hip bones, thinking about one day when it would grow with their child.

They both slumbered, each dreaming of a child with dark hair and hazel eyes.

* * *

Minutes...hours...days later Ben woke to the sound of the comm by the chamber door. Sluggishly, and still nude, he walked to the door and clicked the button on his end, "Yes?"

"Sir," Davin's voice came through the speaker. "We will be exiting hyperspace soon."

"Thank you," Ben answered simply before clicking the comm back off and wandering back over to the bed.

He knelt down on the floor, watching her sleep for just a moment. Her lashes fell thick across her freckled cheeks and her slim nose was perhaps the cutest thing he had ever seen. Her lips were rosy and maybe just a bit swollen. Her chestnut hair was a mess and he almost laughed at the partly sex rumpled and part bed head state of it. Brushing some of the strands from her forehead, he kissed her temple.

Rey whimpered with sleep. Their bed was comfortable, and warm, and smelled like him, and was _theirs_. She would be the only person to share this bed with him. Perhaps one day he would make love to her on this bed as her husband. Just maybe one day they would conceive their first child in this bed. Until she met Ben, Rey had no idea how important the place she lay her head could be.

It may have been wrong of him, but as the Force warmed around them, he took a glimpse of her mind, seeing just the outline of her waking thoughts and his heart swelled. When her eyes blinked opened he stroked her soft cheek with his calloused fingertips, "Come shower with me. I want you on the bridge when we come upon the system."

Still too tired and sated to deny him, she just took his hand and let him pull her into the fresher. He washed her, her eyes lulled closed again but this time with the lovely feeling of his hands across her heated skin. He went down on one knee, running lathered hands down each of her legs and pulling his thumb through her curls and between her lips, grazing her clit and opening as he placed a kiss to her lower abdomen

For just a moment, Rey wanted to throw the rest of the damned white pills out of the airlock, but as much as she belonged to the man before her, he had been right in saying that pieces of her still resided with the Resistance and if she was going to bring a child...their child into this galaxy, it wouldn't be with millions of parsecs separating the mother and father. So she just stroked at the right side of his face, down her mark, and looked forward to one day...

Ben washed quickly before they both exited the fresher. Rey finally started to believe that they were going to a warmer planet when Ben pulled breezy and lightweight clothing from her side of the closet. He also draped a new pair of cream colored arm wraps into her hands, "Only if you want," knowing that the wraps were somewhat of a comfort to her.

Rey dressed in the soft linen outfit as Ben slid into something similar to Jedi robes but in black, foregoing his surcoat for the more tropical climate that awaited them.

They both felt the ship shudder as it came out of hyperspace and he leaned over to place his hands at the small of her back, "We should get going," before he started moving them towards the door of their quarters.

Walking the short distance to the bridge, Rey started to feel her excitement rise. The view out of the ship's windscreen was breathtaking. The system they were in was littered with planets and moons, each looking more green and inviting than the next.

"Welcome to Endor," Ben whispered against her ear as he watched the look of awe settle over her face.

Rey was not ignorant to the significance of this small system and it's heavily wooded moon. What she was unsure of is how Ben felt that Kylo Ren was born here and not at the academy or under Snoke's mentorship.

She would let him share that in his own time, for now, she was enjoying the sweeping passes they were making between Endor and it's moon and she took in all of the splendor of the scenery.

"Take us down to the surface," Ben commanded. Arlan shifted the course of the shuttle and they broke atmosphere headed down to the surface of Endor's Sanctuary Moon.

Rey pressed herself to the console between the pilot and copilot seat, amazed by the sheer size of the trees that grew on the surface. She mused that perhaps only the Wroshyr trees on Chewie's home planet of Kashyyyk could rival their size. If Endor didn't orbit another planet by the same name, Rey could hardly think to call the inhabitable world a moon.

With the wings of the Command Shuttle folded up, Arlan was able to land within the heavy tree cover and Rey was actually impressed with the other woman's skills at the controls. Surprising enough also, it did not bother her that one of Ben's guards was female, she found instead that she was proud of him for not being misogynistic.

"Go open the base and get settled in, Rey and I are going to be out for most of the day," Ben said as he reached for Rey's hand to lead her from the shuttle.

"Sir," Cale said more questioning than accepting of the order. After the failed attempt on the Emperor's life, the guards had hardly been out of earshot of their leader.

Ben turned back to his guard unit, knowing that they had been instructed to not leave his side, but he was now superseding that order because the time and story he would share with Rey on this day was only for her. But he still enjoyed frustrating his guards as much as possible, the Solo prankster in him still lived on, so he turned to Rey again, "My dear…what do we do if we come upon a foe?"

Rey saw the glint in his eyes and the sweet mocking tone of his voice, so she fixed her face into an innocent expression before shrugging, "Cut them in half with our sabers…we seem to be very good at that."

He wasn't sure if he should go pale or laugh at her response, but he just pressed his lips together to swallow down a snort, "Good girl," he cooed instead. Turning again to Cale, he nodded his head, "See…we will be fine."

Cale at least waited until his Emperor's back was turned before rolling his eyes and looking over at Davin as if saying, ' _We are so fucking dead, man…_ ', for it was well known that if harm should come to the Emperor…or heaven forbid, the Empress under their guard, it would be their necks.

On their way out of the shuttle, Ben passed Rey a ration pack and she sowed it away in the leather pouch that hung off her belt and was fastened to her right thigh. Her saber was firmly attached at her back and she stepped off the ramp onto the soft soil of Endor.

The air here was clean…fresh like after a heavy rain. She was dwarfed by the trees and she doubted that even if she joined hands with Ben, they could encircle one of the massive trunks. Off to her left, she could see what looked like moss covered stone.

"It's an old Imperial base," Ben explained coming down off the shuttle behind her. He held out his hand, "Come with me."

She took his extended hand and they started to walk off into the woods. Rey was glad to be anchored to him since she couldn't stop looking around her at the towering trees. Everything was so green and the canopy so thick that she could no longer see the cloudless blue sky. After about half an hour of walking, Ben rounded a large tree and then started to ascend a set of stairs built around the hulking trunk.

Rey followed him up the spiraling staircase, "What is this place?"

"An old Ewok village…many of the natives combined their numbers into larger villages and abandoned some of these outlying ones. They feared another invasion and felt safer in greater numbers."

She didn't dare count the number of stairs they climbed and she was also thankful that scrapping in the large Destroyers had made her not affected by heights, but she was slightly out of breath as they came to a platform perhaps a few hundred feet from the forest floor. Fearlessly, Ben grabbed on to a railing that she mused was older than them both and he swung into a seated position, his legs from the knees down dangling over the edge. Not to be outdone by him, Rey took up residence next to him, the bottom rail came to her mid-chest and she rested her elbows upon it, sighing and looking out on the maze of bridges that linked trees together.

"This is amazing, Ben. Thank you for bringing me here…" she decided to try and ease into the true reason for their visit.

He read between the lines and leaned back, propping his arms out behind him to hold him in a reclined position. "I first came here when I was twenty-four, about a year after I left the academy."

Rey looked back at him and his gaze was far off into the trees, so she just turned back as well, looking off into the distance and listened.

"My parents never told me about Vader. They would whisper behind my back that I was too much like my grandfather, but I thought it was a good thing to be compared to Anakin Skywalker, but they were seeing the dark that cut through my light." Rey looked over her shoulder at him quickly and he smirked, "I wasn't born evil…"

"I know that," Rey said quietly before shifting her body and laying her head in his lap, still looking out at the forest.

"Snoke was in my mind for as long as I can remember, always telling me that he could make me as great as my grandfather…I thought he wanted to make me a great Jedi, but he stoked my anger and pain, so by the time my uncle tried to kill me, I was so easily seduced by the Darkside." He absentmindedly stroked at her hair.

"When Snoke told me my true heritage I felt even more betrayed. I stopped being a child at the time my parents thought it appropriate to leave me on my own for a month…I was fourteen. But they could never be bothered to tell me the truth about our family. All the times they whispered that I was like him…like Vader…they were scared of me. I was a boy and they were scared of me, of what they already assumed I would become."

Rey took the hand that had halted on her shoulder and placed a soft kiss to his wrist, hoping he would understand that she was there to love him, not judge him. It seemed to work when she heard his breath shutter.

"No one came looking for me after the academy, Luke had told them that I was already too far gone and my mother believed him and didn't even put up a fight for me." He sat forward some so he could look down upon Rey's face, "When you stood up to Snoke…when you told him that he underestimated me, that was the first time someone has ever come to save me, the first time anyone has fought for me. I hope you know how important that moment was to me."

"You're worth fighting for," Rey had turned her head to meet his gaze and lifted her right hand to stroke the channel down his cheek.

Now he took her hand, nuzzling his pronounced nose into her palm before pressing his lips to the pulse point on the inside of her wrist. He would never deserve her, but he sighed and placed her hand back around her middle before they both looked back out over the forest. "I made Snoke tell me everything he knew about my grandfather and that led me to Endor for the first time. I know it seems silly, like going to a cemetery to talk to the dead, but I thought that if I came here that I would somehow be able to feel him, be able to ask him what to do.

"I spent six weeks here, living out of my shuttle and also in the Imperial base. I spent days walking the forest, steeping myself in Darkness, trying to be worthy of my bloodline. Anakin was born of the Force, I am only here because the Forced willed it."

"Do you think I'm a child of the Force," Rey asked offhandedly.

Ben stroked at her hair again, "I don't think so, I saw both of your parents in the vision, but I wouldn't be surprised if you came from one of the Master lines."

"Master lines?" Rey questioned turning her head in his lap again and looking up at him.

"A Kenobi, Palpatine, Jinn, Revan, or Billaba perhaps."

"But not a Skywalker," she teased.

He laughed, "I never asked Luke if he truly lived by the Jedi code, but it wouldn't be the first time my family has engaged in taboo behavior."

Rey's face screwed up, "What?"

"Leia and Luke kissed like three or four times before they knew they were siblings…a few of those times right in front of Han," he had to continue to chuckle at the ridiculousness of his family.

"Ugh," Rey groaned. "Let's just thank the Force that we aren't related."

Ben shrugged, "Luke could have a love child he never knew about…we could in all possibility be cousins…"

Rey now sat up, gripping on to the railing to steady her rapid movements, "That's not funny Ben, we've had sex…lots and lots of sex…" Rey thought she might hyperventilate.

He smiled, "Yes…lots and lots of sex, and that is perhaps why I am the luckiest man in the galaxy." He leaned in to kiss her and she moved her head back a slightly mortified look on her face. "We aren't related Rey…I'm just messing with you."

"How are you so sure," she looked at him with suspicion.

Sighing and leaning back on his arms again, he started, "Families…blood lines, have a special connection…"

"Like our bond?" She was becoming more terrified.

"No, our bond is something completely different and rare, usually only between Master and apprentice and developed over time with trust and understanding of one another, but ours was instantaneous as if the Force couldn't wait around for us to finally get it right."

"But the family bonds…" Even if she was not a Skywalker, she could still have family out there and she wanted to know if she could connect to them somehow.

"It's like a warm feeling…the connection is unconditional. My mother said she could feel my emotions…my signature, even before I was born. That may have been why my mother kissed Luke, she felt a kinship bond and mistook it for love."

"You still aren't helping, Ben."

He finally took her chin between his thumb and forefinger, "We are not related, but if I had to guess, I think you came from a Sith line."

She jerked her face out of his grip, "How do you figure?"

"Like me, you are gray, you do not fear the dark, you embrace it, use it, then return to the light. It may have been diluted over many generations, but you have Darksider blood in your veins."

Tears started to form in her eyes and Ben now took her face between his palms, "The possibility of a Sith bloodline doesn't make you inherently an evil or dark person, it doesn't make me love you less, it doesn't make you unworthy…" he sighed as her expression started to crumble. "It makes you strong and special and fierce and powerful. It makes you incredible. There is no one else out there like you and I am so lucky to be loved by you."

When she still hadn't replied he pressed his lips to hers for just a moment before becoming very serious, "We are not the sins of our parents…of our grandparents…blood of the past does not define our futures." His grip on her face tighten just slightly, "Do you understand?"

She could only nod as tears slid between his fingers as they were pressed into her cheeks. Rey pulled at the collar of his tunic, bringing his lips back to hers. "Promise me…" she said into their kiss, "That if the darkness ever calls to me…that you will pull me back to the light." Tears continued to stream down her face.

"My love will always be the compass that will lead you home."

* * *

 **AN: God, the fluff kills me sometimes but I do love it. I hope you all feel the same.**


	15. Part XV

**AN: I could use a pick me up today, so make sure to leave me some love for posting another chapter so quickly. As always, enjoy the fluff...**

* * *

 **Part XV**

Over the past year there were so many things that Rey had experienced with Ben that she never thought she would. One of those just happened to be tenderly making love to him, hundreds of feet from the ground on a small platform up a redwood tree on Endor's moon.

It was slightly awkward, shifting around the limited space and stripped off her leggings before setting herself into his lap. He scooted back, pressing his spine against the truck of the tree as Rey reached between them to free his ready cock from his pants. As she slid down on him, Ben worked at the ties of her tunic, wanting to give his large hands free roam of her warm skin.

Rey rode his thighs, her still wrapped arms snaking around his neck as she pressed her now exposed chest to his lips. Their movements were steady but not rushed, and the only sounds around them were soft moans and mews of pleasure as they pledged love, and understanding, and togetherness.

"Ben," her tone was begging, tears continued to slip from her eyes during their joining, maybe a part of her was still somber, but mostly she was overwhelmed with feelings of acceptance and devotion.

"I'm right here," his voice was deep and reassuring as he stroked her cheeks and spoke into her neck.

She whimpered through her climax, crying into Ben's shoulder as his strong arms encompassed her back. He couldn't stand the thought of disturbing her for the sake of his own release, so he denied himself and just held her, soothed her, loved her.

After a few long minutes, they separated and Rey did her best to slip back into her clothes. Ben pulled her to him, her back pressed to his chest as she settled between his legs. His arms folded around her middle and he rested his chin on the top of her head.

"Did you ever find what you were looking for," she ghosted her finger tips along his warm arm, "when you first came here?"

Ben sighed and pulling her in closer, "I'm not really sure. Snoke told me that Luke had killed Vader, his own father, out of fear or hate maybe. As a Force user, when my grandfather died he became one with the Force and debris from the second Death Star was scattered all over this system. Including his helmet that now resides on the _Finalizer_."

"You came here to find a piece of him…" It was more of a realization than a question.

"He died before I was even a consideration but it seemed like he was the only part of my blood that I could possibly relate to. I desperately wanted to feel something…anything from him that told me the new path I was on, the path away from my family, and the path towards the darkness was the right one…would be worth it."

"And do you think it was?"

"I'm not arrogant enough to assume that I would end up right here, right now, if I had chosen another path and while I do regret some of my past," he swallowed thickly, "…actions…I have no qualms with my current situation." He dipped his face to lay his lips upon her shoulder.

Rey may have forgiven Ben for his past, for the action that made him so uncomfortable, for killing Han, but she knew that it would always be a sore spot that would never heal on Ben's heart.

"It was only just before we met on Jakku that I found out the truth about my grandfather's last moments and perhaps if I had known that his death was a sacrifice for the love of his son, for the love of family, it may have swayed my choice."

"That recently?" Rey asked.

He rested his cheek on the crown of her head, "My mother's journal…thank you for bringing it to me."

Rey hummed, "I thought it might give you some closure."

"It has," he said affectionately, "but it has also raised questions that I will never get answers to."

"Like what?"

"When I was a boy when Leia and Luke started to see more of my darkness, I was struggling to fight off the voice in my head, they didn't try to help. They just blamed it on my legacy, as if I didn't have a choice in the matter, but I was trying so hard to stay in the light when Snoke was calling me to pain and suffering.

"My mother wrote about those times, how lost she felt and hopeless, but she didn't even try talking to me about it."

"You could have talked to her about it…" Rey tried to offer.

"I was eleven and she wasn't around much, or if she was, she was too busy arguing with Han and trying to save their marriage." His fists tightened remember trying to press his pillow over his head so he didn't have to hear his parents throwing verbal insults at each other. Leia cried a lot during that time and he felt like even more of a burden which just added to the pain that Snoke preyed on. "Families aren't all they are cracked up to be."

"I wouldn't know," Rey said looking down at her fingers as she started to pick at her cuticles.

Ben felt bad, but just slightly, unsure if their lives had been reversed if she would have fared any better. "At lease your parents made it clear that they didn't want you," his tone didn't mean to be harsh. "Instead of pretending everyday that you weren't the biggest mistake of their lives."

Rey understood that they had very different pain concerning their families. She may never be able to understand what it was like to live in the Solo-Organa household, but she could accept that it had caused him pain. "The Force doesn't make mistakes," she had to believe that they weren't put through their own personal hells for nothing.

"No, it doesn't," Ben agreed before tightening his hold on her. "My mother wrote about you…"

"Oh?"

"She liked you. Said you reminded her of her younger self who went off begging Obi-Wan for help."

She chuckled, "Do boys always fall in love with a woman just like their mothers?"

"I wouldn't know…" Ben mused. "I've never loved anyone but you." His mushy statement earned him a playful slap on the arm as Rey scoffed. "Anyways, you may have some of the more redeemable qualities of my mother, but you are…will be so much more that she ever was."

"What do you mean?"

"Well first," he smiled, "you have a much cooler disposition, which is useful around the temper that was passed down to me." He didn't see, but Rey rolled her eyes before smiling, completely agreeing with his ability to flux moods. "And," he kissed at her shoulder again, "when our children start to discover the darkness that flows within them, you will not give up on them, you will not think their path is set, you will teach them to always come back to the light."

"We will teach them Ben," Rey corrected him. She didn't ever want to think of a time that he wouldn't be there to show his legacy that it was normal to experience dark emotions, but that they must not steep in them. Vader and Kylo's dark years are lesson enough to help guide anyone back to the light.

When he was quite for a long moment, she almost wished that she could read his thoughts, but instead went back to talking about his mother, "Leia didn't spend a whole lot of time with me on Dantooine."

"She wasn't good with attachments. She lost too many people to the war, even before I was born, and I think she found it hard to connect, always knowing that the more she cared, the more she would hurt when they didn't come back from a mission. She was a lonely and scared woman."

"We were all lonely and scared," Rey mused.

"We were…" he confirmed that those feelings were for the past.

"Perhaps we will see her some time…in the Force I mean." Rey turned her head to the side so she could see his face behind her.

He smirked and just moved his eyes to return her gaze, "Be careful what you wish for, my love."

They explored the rest of the abandoned village, walking between platforms on bridges that looked like they were on the brink of fraying. "I won't let you fall," Ben reassured her as he waiting for her to cross a rather haggard looking walkway.

Ben had to practically crawl through the doorways of the Ewok homes and Rey giggled as he hemmed and huffed at the small living quarters. They ate their rations up on the highest platform they could find and Rey could just see the golds and pinks of a setting sun.

The forest got dark quickly and once they were back on the ground Rey took her sabers from her back, "Do you want to be the stars or do you want to be home?" She asked making reference to the inscriptions on the bases of the hilts.

"You are the stars," he held out his hand for half of her saber.

"And you are home," Rey said back with a smile as they both ignited the blades to be their light to guide them back to the base.

Rey was thankful when they reentered the shuttle, "The guards are bunked up in the base, so we have the ship to ourselves," Ben said knowing her thoughts.

As much as she wished to be taken by him in every which way, she sighed, "I'm so tired…I really just want a shower and then to go to bed."

Ben wanted to feel dejected, but how could he when he was able to lay his head next to hers, listen to her little snores, and then wake up to her mess of hair in the morning? So he just closed the ramp to the shuttle with a wave of his hand and followed her to their quarters.

They showered together again and by the end of it Ben had to carry her to bed as she was falling asleep on her feet. He situated her in the bed next to him, tucking her into his side before he called his datapad to his hand to review the day's memos. Even though he would always take time away to be with Rey, he still had a galaxy to run.

For just a moment, as she shifted in her sleep to cover more of his body with hers and he brushed damp hair away from her face, he dreamed that this was his real life. Opening a new memo, he sent a message to his metal smith Malkolm with a simple request.

* * *

The next day they had breakfast with the guards and Rey was thankful that Tyris was a decent cook since she still had not grasped anything beyond reheating rations. When she came back out of the shuttle her eyes lit up, "No way!" She cried as she ran the rest of the way down the ramp.

"You like it?" Ben asked slipping some supplies into a compartment under the seat of the sleek gray Joben T-95 speeder bike that awaited them.

"Please tell me that I get to drive it," Rey ran her hands along the sleek curves of the bike.

"Maybe when we get to the grasslands on the other side of the forest, the trees can be tricky to navigate and this thing has a lot of power."

She quirked up an eyebrow, "You think I'll get myself killed?"

He laughed, "I think you will get me killed and then where does that leave us?"

Rey just let out a noise between a hum and a huff before she clipped her sabers to her back and swung her leg over the speeder, settling into the space behind him.

They whizzed into the forest, "The trick is to use the Force to anticipate the placement of the trees," Ben said as he leaned the bike from side to side to avoid the redwoods.

It didn't take long before they cleaned the forest and came out upon a large meadow that led up to a range of towering mountains. They spent the better part of the morning taking turns to see who could make it down to the river at the far end of the field and back the quickest. Rey loved the cool morning air in her face as she pushed the speeder to it's limits. They also spent about an hour going over saber forms. It wasn't often that they got to spar in the flesh and Rey longed to truly feel the heat of his breath as he pinned her back to his chest, with their sabers crossed at her neck.

During one set of parries, Ben had spun around to avoid the stabbing motion of her right saber, but Rey had caught him with an upstroke of her left saber and a lock of his hair fluttered to the ground. "Oh, no," Rey tried to cover her laugh in her forearm as she saw the singed clump at the right side of his head.

"This is why I wear the helmet," Ben said in mock horror as he tried to fluff his hair back into place.

"How will you ever find a consort now?"

He took a long stride towards her, wrapping the arm that held his now disengaged saber around her back and pulling her in close to him, "The _task_ has proven itself quite difficult at times...she is an enigma, not one to easily come to heed."

Rey blinked slowly and bit at her lip, knowing that he wouldn't be able to resist dipping down for a kiss and when he did, she moved her right hand up next to his shoulder, snapping her saber to life just under his chin. His eyes went wide as he halted any movement towards her. She smirked and her voice was just a whisper, "Do you surrender?"

Ben loosened his hold on her and started to slowly sink to one knee, Rey keeps the saber steady just a breath away from his neck, he could feel its heat and small sparks that the blade gave off felt like pin pricks along his throat. Finally, when he completely kneeled before her, he spoke, "I surrender everything to you."

In another swift move, Rey's saber was switched off and they were both flung out to her sides, getting lost in the long grass that surround them. Next she lunged at him, throwing her arms around his neck as she tackled him to the ground. She couldn't remember a time that she had ever been so blissfully happy as she peppered kisses over his face and their joined laughter echoed off the forest to the west and mountains to the east.

After a few moments of rolling in the grass, kissing, and perhaps pushing their hips into the other's, Ben stood and pulled her up with him. They collected their sabers from the grass and then moved closer to the river because he knew his desert flower loved water, and he spread out a blanket for them to enjoy a simple meal of fruits, cheese, and bread.

He wanted to remember her like this for the rest of time. Her eyes sparkled like the bubbling of the river, her smile was as wide and bright as the Endor sun, and her skin glowed like the snow-capped mountains behind her. She was the perfect picture of beauty and he again thanked the Force for her.

The sun was at it's peak and sweat made the hair at the back of his neck curl and stick to his skin. A black band was produced from under the sleeve of his tunic and he pulled his hair back, tucking the now shortened strands behind his ear. Rey was looking at him lovingly and he couldn't help but almost blush under her gaze.

"I hope at least one of our kids gets your ears..." Rey mused.

He outright laughed now, "And here I thought you were merciful." She tilted her head and pinched her brows together. "I was teased relentlessly as a boy." He used his two forefingers to make his already pronounced ears stick out more.

Rey shifted and reclined, resting her head in his lap and looked up at the clouds forming in the sky. "Well I love them." She felt him start to run his fingers over her arm wraps and now she wished she had not worn them so that he could truly touch her. "I want them to have your ears and hair...mine is much too mousy. They can have my noes because I _am_ merciful, but your lips because they are beautiful."

"And your eyes," he added, loving that she was talking about a future that extended past just the two of them.

Even thought she loved his dark and fathomless eyes, she would let him have this one piece of her, but in all honesty, she wanted a child that would be so unmistakably Ben's. One day and she hoped soon, she would be able to shed her dwindling loyalty to the Resistance and proudly take her place at his side.

They laid out in that field for hours discussing all aspects of their future. It was easy to make plans when you weren't sure when they would actually be able to come to fruition. It was easy to say that they would spend a year or so touring the galaxy as Emperor and Empress, that they would go to Chandrila, Naboo, Yavin 4, and Kashyyyk, and that they would teach balance to any Force user who wished to learn.

It was easy to make believe even though at the backs of their minds, they both knew that they would be returning to separate lives the next day. It was easy to dream…

Nightfall was upon them and they remounted the speeder bike and headed back to the base and shuttle. Tyris had prepared another meal and they enjoyed each other around a small fire just outside the base's blast doors.

Rey appreciated the more relaxed atmosphere and sat curled into Ben's side and the guards regaled her with stories of their time with the Emperor. Ben allowed them to poke fun at him for Rey's sake since her laugh healed his soul.

After about an hour around the fire, Rey's hands started wandering up the back of his shirt, further up his thigh, and into his hair and he knew it was time to take her to bed. "Empress," his tone was low and warning. When she bit her lip and gripped her fingers into the curls at the nape of his neck he moved swiftly, throwing her over his shoulder while calling a ' _good night_ ' to his guards.

She squirmed and flailed the entire way up the ramp and into the main hold. Right when they were out of sight from the guards, Ben playfully slapped at her rear that sat just above his left shoulder. Her body jumped in surprise and she let you a little ' _Oh!_ ' before she moaned as his large hand continued to caress at her round bottom.

He only set her down once they were locked behind the door of their quarters. He paced around her, as if sizing her up, assessing when to go in for the kill. As he circled her, he started to slowly remove his clothing. "That was very wicked of you to tease me in front of my guards." He stopped in front of her, his gaze burning, "What am I to do with you?"

Rey liked this game…she knew it would end with him pounding passionately into her. She loved when he was gentle and slow with her, she loved when they seemed so in sync that their hearts beat at the same rate and they drew the same breath, but she also loved his rough hands on her, his gritted teeth as he tried to keep the pace that had her falling apart, and the sharp sound of their skin slapping together.

So she decided to take what she wanted from him. Going down on to her knees she looked up at him was she pulled at the ties of his pants, "Do with me as you will, _Master._ " Rey heard his intake of breath, not sure if it was because of her words or the fact that she took his hard length into her small hand. Before he could answer or protest, she wrapped her lips around him, his skin slightly more salty from their days activities, but his taste still made her moan. His velvet skin moved over the rod-like engorged tissue of his cock, and she moved her hand to stroke at the base of him where her mouth couldn't reach.

"Oh you sweet girl," Ben cooed as he carded his fingers into her hair and he watched her bob at his groin. Her mouth was wet and warm but it wasn't the moist heat that he craved and before he reached the point of no return, he lifted her to her feet, undressing her as he led her towards the fresher. She was nude by the time they entered the other room and he quickly propped her up on the vanity top, rubbing the head of his cock along her folds a few times to spread her slick before he drove into her.

She was putty in his arms as her spine arched and her head lulled back. She gripped at the sink basins for leverage, to keep her right at the edge of the counter as he sheathed himself into her fully and forcefully. Ben watched her expression float somewhere between pleasure and pain, his large hands digging into the flesh around her hips.

He loved how she had gently rode him the day before, how through the Force, through the bond, they could feel all of the emotions of the other. They exchanged love and acceptance and understanding, but there was something primal about commanding her body as she commanded his. There was something about exerting power over her, although his only intent was to give her what she needed. _Balance_ , he thought as he continued his assault between her legs.

Ben started to grunt out, knowing that there was no way to stop his rushing climax and he reached out, pinching her nipple between the knuckles of his middle and ring fingers as he palmed her breast and pulled.

Rey cried out, arching into his touch and her inner walls clamped down, pulling his release from him with waves of constricting muscles. He pushed into her as deeply as he could and allowed her body to milk him to his resolve.

With the most tender care, Ben bathed her and took her to bed, resting his head on her chest as she stroked through his drying curls. "Why do you say that Kylo Ren was born here?" She asked out into the darkened room.

He rubbed his palm against her abdomen, "It was here that I decided that I couldn't go back…couldn't go back to my family, back to Luke…my mother. I couldn't be Ben Solo any more. So I buried him in the same spot that I unearthed my grandfather's helmet."

"Why do you let me call you Ben?"

Turning his face just slightly, he was able to place a simple kiss to her bare breast, "With you…I want to be Ben…or at least a version of him that I could have been." Pulling her in closer he pressed his fingers around her ribs, "Kylo Ren was never meant to be loved."


	16. Part XVI

**You all are awesome and your sweet words brightened by day and got my through a really hard week. Here is your reward and I hope to get another part out this weekend as well. Cheers!**

* * *

 **Part XVI**

By Rey's calculations and if she was in her own shuttle, she would have had to leave Endor early the next morning, but with the speed of Ben's Command Shuttle, they were able to spend a few more hours on the moon.

Arlan and Tyris settled into the cockpit again and took them on a quick flight to another part of the forest that seemed to stretch half way around the moon. It was explained to Rey that they were going to Bright Tree Village, the largest settlement of Ewoks on Endor.

Rey practically squealed when she saw her first Ewok. Pictures on the holonet could not prepare her for the seer adorableness of the small bear-like creatures. "Can I take one home?" Rey whispered to Ben as they walked through the village.

"They aren't house broken and they tend to bite," Ben teased in reply.

With just enough time to eat a local breakfast and enjoy some music, Rey and Ben were back on the shuttle and lifting off the surface once more.

"One more stop," Ben said and they started to fly over the mountain range.

This time Ben took over piloting the shuttling, knowing exactly where he was going. As he landed the ship he addressed his guards, "Stay here," and he took Rey's hand and they exited down the ramp.

They were in a field just outside of a forest and Ben kept her hand in his as they stepped into the tree line. Halting his steps, Rey looked up at him, his eyes were closed and his breathing was slow and steady. Then Rey felt it…the Force. Ben was connecting to the Force and it was awe-inspiring, personal, spiritual, and beautiful. Rey felt honored…privileged to be standing at his side and witnessing something so pure and so raw. It was something that she felt down in her bones and for the first time possibly, she saw him…truly…through the Force, saw him.

His eyes lulled open and he glanced down at her, "This way…"

Walking off into the forest there were so many things that Rey wanted to say…to ask him… but she just followed.

Perhaps a hundred yards into the forest, Ben stopped. "Here," he said simply and dropped to his knees and started to dig in the soft moist dirt. Almost a foot down into the ground his fingers came in contact with a piece of himself that was left here seven year ago.

Rey waited patiently but inside she was buzzing with anxiety. Finally, he stood, brushing the dirt off of something metallic.

"This belonged to Ben Solo," he showed her the simple silver hilt. "This saved Ben Solo's life and allowed the birth of Kylo Ren."

She studied the simple design, even covered in soil, she could tell that Ben had put a lot of time and care into it's making. "I am thankful for this saber as it protected you when no one else would. I am thankful for Kylo Ren and the changes the he has made in the galaxy. I am thankful for you, my Ben, for awakening me and showing me how wonderful life could be."

He reached for her face, neither one caring that he was smudging dirt across her cheek, they were lost to the kiss they shared. It was short but telling and once they parted he handed the hilt to her, "I give you the last piece of Ben Solo and ask you to safe guard it for when he needs reminding of what sacrifice looks like."

The sun was now directly over head and they had already spent too much time on the moon. Even so, they walked at a relaxed pace back to the shuttle and Arlan lifted off again, quickly making way to the Spar Trade Route lanes and activated the hyperdrive with ease.

Rey didn't offer to fly on the way back to Jedha as she wanted to spend as much time with Ben as possible. Since she had been so...pleasantly interrupted the last time she tried to discuss her food assistance program, she took this opportunity to sit in their quarters with her Emperor and actually do some ruling.

Ben agreed to allocate some TIE squadrons to escort food transports until the hyperspace lanes could be deemed safe from any remaining cartels. He wanted to discuss the outcomes of meetings with his counselors concerning the punishment of the Resistance for their acts of treason, but still not knowing what he would decide, he didn't want to prematurely worry her.

So instead they stuck to lighter topics. Rey approved schools for two outlying worlds and commissioned a medical cruiser that would make health care available to planets that didn't have their own hospitals. "I want a focus to be on children and expected mothers. The newest generation are going to be ones carrying on from the foundation we are building right now. We need them to be healthy and also have them think positively about the New Order."

He agree wholeheartedly and added that he wanted to help veterans of the war, treat and resettle troopers that had been too badly injured to return to duty. "Perhaps even those who fought for the Republic and the Resistance will come for treatment. If they are shown respect and given good care, maybe they will see that the New Order isn't something to rebel against."

Rey loved the idea and leaned over to kiss him for being a just rules to all of his people, not just the ones who held his same views. As they parted he pulled the pocket watch out of his coat and frowned at it. Setting aside his datapad, he stood from the couch that had served as their meeting area and held his hand out for hers.

She took his hand readily and wordlessly followed him to the bed where they spent the rest of their time making love and being over all tangled up in each other.

Jedha was just as cold as she remembered and she dressed in her warmer clothing, slipping her green cowl over her head. Just as Ben had promised, her shuttle was filled with the supplies that were on her list and maybe more.

He walked her on to the shuttle and kissed her deeply in the cockpit, "When do I get to stop saying goodbye to you?" His expression was pained as he cupped her face in his large palms.

"Soon," was all Rey could offer and she took his lips to hers once more before she needed to depart.

As her ship lifted off, she reached down to make sure that Ben's first saber was still safely tucked into her satchel. Strangely the metal hilt didn't feel cold, but by some amazing power of the Force, she felt his warmth under her finger tips.

* * *

The base was much as it always was when Rey returned. Her cargo was unloaded and the other mechanics were impressed to see the quality of tools she had brought home. "You Jedi's sure do know how to get good deals on things…" one of them had mused as he pulled out a new socket set. Rey wanted to curse Ben for continuing to spoil her, but she also found it amusing that he was providing the tools for the Resistance to keep their ships in working order.

Somewhere in his thought process, there had to be a major conflict of interest, but she knew that his only intent had been to keep her safe and happy. "Only looking out for the good of the Resistance," she replied back offhandedly.

As she moved a heavy crate with a little help form the Force, Poe walked up behind her, "Rey, can I have a word?"

The others in the hangar, called out playful as if she was a child being sent to the principal's office. Had she ever attended proper school, she doubted she would have caused much trouble to end up in such a situation, but she also smiled to herself thinking how many times Ben was sent for reprimands. Even though he had told her that he was a quiet child, she also knew that between his temper and being too smart of his own good, Ben would have gotten himself into trouble from time to time.

She had learned quite a bit about primary and secondary education over the course of the past few months. At first she told Ben that it wasn't fair for her to make ruling on education reform when she had never attended school, but he had argued that since she had be denied the opportunity, that she was the perfect one to decide what was needed. He filled in the gaps, having attended the best prep schools and then university on Coruscant before going to the academy.

Her attention was brought back when Poe called her name again. Rey quickly set the crate down with the others and wiped her hands on her pants before following the General down a few halls to his quarters. About two months ago he had taken over Leia's rooms and the homey feeling of a life time of collecting books, art, and sentiment, were gone.

"I figured that you would be more comfortable meeting in here rather than the command offices…" Poe gestured towards a small sitting area.

Truth be told, Rey was very uncomfortable. Deep inside, she felt wrong for being in another man's private quarters. She was bonded to Ben, linked to him in every way but one, and she also felt that he would not be pleased with Poe's choice of meeting spaces, but she just nodded her head and took one of the offered seats.

"It's been a while since we've talked, just the two of us and I'm wondering how you are doing."

A while was putting it lightly, Rey mused to herself. The truth of it was that Poe played nice while Leia was still living but when she was gone and he took over command, Poe had very little to do with the young Jedi. With the most recent failed mission and also the other time when Rey had advised Ben that one of his transports carrying weapons use a different route…she had been keeping her head down but was also expecting this meeting.

"I'm fine..." she wasn't planning on giving away more than what was asked.

"You seem to be flying a lot of solo supply runs," Rey just sat and stared at him, not offering anything, so he continued. "You haven't had any run-ins with the First Order have you? There is still a bounty out on you if I'm not mistaken."

"I presume there will always be a bounty on my head since I did kill the old Supreme Leader, but no I've been very lucky to stay off the New Order's radar."

"The New Order," Poe scoffed. "You were pretty chummy with Kylo Ren back on the _Supremacy_..."

Every nerve in her body told her to tread lightly. "I wouldn't call knocking him unconscious and leaving him for dead... _chummy_."

"But you still went to retrieve him." Poe was fishing and he hoped that she wouldn't catch on.

"I only went to do what Han did, what Leia asked us to do. Luke wouldn't come and fight, at the time I thought that Ben was our best bet for bringing down the First Order." Rey had to clench her hands to attempt to keep her temper at bay.

"Yes...of course... _Ben_ _Solo_..." Poe had grown up around the Organa-Solo family, as his parents were pilots for the Rebels and the Republic. "It's just a pity that you didn't kill him when you had the chance. All you did was exchange one tyrant for another."

Rey should have bit her tongue, but she was tired of Poe's hypocritical and highhanded hate and anger, "I don't see it that way." The words were out before she could stop them.

"And how do you see it?" Poe asked, crossing his arms over his chest and squinting his eyes at her.

She had really stepped in it now and Rey almost considered using the Jedi mind trick on him to forget the last five minutes of conversation. But instead she did exactly as Ben told her not to, she spoke her mind. "I think that what the New Order is doing isn't half bad." When Poe just maintained his position she continued. "They are building schools and hospitals. They are freeing enslaved worlds and stopped the criminals that plague the trade routes. In just a year they have been able to do more good than the New Republic could fathom doing in a whole generation."

Poe scoffed, "You've been watching too much of their propaganda on the holonet." He ground his teeth for a moment before leaning forward and slamming his fists on the table between them. "It's all lies Rey! They want to lull the galaxy into believing that they are safe…that there is peace." His eyes narrowed, "When are you going to realize that peace is a lie?"

"How very Sith of you…" Rey seethed back through gritted teeth.

The insult was lost on Poe, but it only seemed to stoke his anger, "Rey why are you here?"

"For peace," she answered without hesitation.

"And you think that spreading New Order propaganda around this base is the way to do it?" He had heard her reading articled off the holonet about some of the changes that _Emperor_ Ren was making.

Rey leaned forward and matched his gaze, "If you think peace is a lie, then why are you here Poe?"

"To finish what General Organa started. To protect the Republic. To do what is right!" His voice rose with each point.

Her heart broke, having heard the same words from Kylo back when he was mad with darkness. He was so blinded by faith in the legacy of Vader, that it took an awakening of his own to see that ideals of the past had failed for a reason, and that they were better off making their own changes for the future. As the Light within Ben had risen, Poe was falling into the Darkness. _Balance_ , Rey thought. They had never considered the rising of another evil as Ben became more gray.

"The Republic is dead," she thought back to eight months ago when she had tended to Ben's wounds after he dismantled the Senate. "Leia is dead," her eyes watered thinking about holding Ben as he wept into her shoulder. "And if your idea of right is killing innocents…"

"There are always collateral losses in war!"

"The war is over Poe! You can not win. You should be trying to make a treaty with Ben while you still have some credit to your name and you may be able to have some influence on the future of the galaxy!"

It wasn't lost on Poe that Rey was saying _you_ and not _we_. She wasn't with them anymore and he voiced is suspicions, "How long have you been consorting with Kylo Ren?"

Rey's face screwed up, "What?" Her shocked expression was genuine or at the fact that he would ask such a question outright.

Poe was insulted by her false innocence and he shot to his feet, spanning the small space between them and wrapped one of his hands around her slender throat, "How long have you been a traitor to the Resistance?"

Her eyes went wide for just a moment, shocked that Poe would even make a move to physically harm her, but then anger took over and she seethed at him, "About as long as you have been a traitor to the New Order."

The sound pulled from the room and Rey heard a growl from behind her and knew that Ben was there. Even though Poe was touching her, she could tell by the General's still gritting face and by the fact that his gaze didn't move, that Poe was unaware of the other Force presence in the room. Ben and Rey had hypothesized that Luke had been able to see them back on Ahch-To because he was also a powerful Force user. Only two people outside of the Emperor and Empress knew about the bond and they were both dead.

Ben couldn't see what was happening but could tell through the bond the Rey was in distress. "What's happening?" He asked as she saw Rey pressed back in her seat by an unseen person.

"Poe wants to know how long we have been working together…" Rey smirked up at the dark-haired General as his accusing expression morphed into confusion.

"Who are you talking to?" He looked around the room frantically.

"Emperor Ren," Rey said smugly. "He's right over there," she nodded over her right shoulder.

"What are you doing Rey?" Ben's tone was warning and scared. They had discussed this…what to do if she was to be found out, but he didn't expect her to so brazen with provoking Poe.

Poe staggered back from her, ready to reach for his blaster, not sure if he was going to use it on her or see if he could get a shot off at the invisible Kylo Ren. But before the cool metal of his sidearm touched his hand, he was frozen. His gaze moved back up and Rey had stood from the chair, her hand outstretched.

"You need to kill him," Ben prompted. "He knows too much."

"I'm not going to kill him," Rey said back to Ben, as he moved to stand at her right side.

"He won't give you a trial. He won't show you mercy. He will make an example of you." Ben pleaded for her to understand.

"He's just lost Ben," she argued back. "Like you once were."

Her brilliant light would not overshadow his concern for her. "You should knock him out. Come to me now. I can keep you safe."

Still holding Poe in place, she reached up and stroked her hand along Ben's face, "I'll erase his memory…"

"It may not be enough," Ben insisted.

"It will. His mind is weak with paranoia and crazed ambition." She looked back to Poe and pulled him across the floor with the Force, his body still frozen in his defensive stance.

"Concentrate," Ben said, placing his hand on her shoulder, pouring some of his power out through the bond.

Rey blinked slowly, took a few deep breaths and then placed her still outstretched hand onto the side of Poe's face. "Relax," she first instructed and she watched as his body went slack, still strong enough to stand, but his shoulder slumped and his arms hung loosely at his sides.

"You asked me into your quarters…"

"He has you alone in his room?" Ben's grip tightened on her as he spoke in disbelief.

"Bad move on his part," Rey shot out before rolling her shoulders. "Balance Ben, I need you to find balance." She heard him take in some breaths through his nose and then she could once more feel the warmth of his power flowing to her.

"You asked me into your quarters to have a talk about how I am doing." She had learned that sticking close to the true intent of the person helped in these matters…not that she had been trying her powers on other people around the base…or anything…

Poe's eyes were glazed over and his affect was flat. His voice was monotone as he repeated her words. Rey could tell he wasn't faking it, she was in his mind. The verbal suggestion were just for show, the true power happened as she rearranged or deleted memories from his brain.

She pulled at the suspicion intent that he felt towards her, leaving just enough so that he wouldn't know something was off. Rey role played a much lighter conversation with him about how she enjoyed working on the ships and getting as much fight time as possible. She flattered him by saying that she could never be as great of a X-wing pilot as he was, but she hoped that one day he would see her merit as a pilot.

Poe had known that she was talking about the New Order successes so she spun herself as an idealist, who approved of the changes, though she too suspected they were just for show, but she saw the good in them and believed the Resistance could bring about such change.

Of course, all of that was a lie, but Poe didn't need to know that.

"Why don't you just make him surrender?" Ben added as he watched Rey flawlessly rearrange Poe's mind.

"Free will, Ben." She answered shortly. "He has fallen to the darkness due to pride and a crippling sense of duty." Rey looked up at him, "Sound familiar?"

"So you plan to bring him back to the light as well?" Perhaps Ben was a little jealous and didn't want to share her with others.

"Maybe that is why I am still here…" Rey mused.

She turned back to Poe who still stood in his Force stupor and instructed him to take his seat again, "You think I am silly and naive, but you trust me…"

"You are naive, but I trust you…" Poe repeated.

"You will be comfortable coming to me when you feel lost or weary."

"You can help me when I'm lost," Poe stated.

"Anything else?" Rey asked over her shoulder again.

"No more private meetings in his chambers," Ben gritted out.

Rey scoffed but didn't make that request. She could handle herself and if she was going to be a sort of confidant for the General, then she needed to have him feel comfortable with speaking to her in private. "I am here to help you and to ensure the betterment of the galaxy," was how she finished her compulsion.

He released Rey's shoulder when she completed the Jedi mind sweep, the bond broke and he was once more alone in his room on Coruscant. His concern was palpable as he paced in his quarters. The uncertainty of the effectiveness of Rey's mind push is what gave him the most anxiety. Until the bond opened again, he couldn't be completely sure that she was safe. Ben was unsure if he would get any sleep.

While Rey did have a datapad that could receive information from his offices, they never used it to directly communicate for fear of the implications if they were found out. Not only did he not want the Resistance to use his affections for Rey against him, but he also feared what his other adversaries would do should they know how unprotected Rey was with the band of misfits who seemed to accept new recruits from every corner of the underworlds.

Back on Dantooine, with a much more relaxed atmosphere in the General's quarters, Rey change the subject to the upcoming nuptials of Rose and Finn. Poe was standing up with Finn as his best man and since months ago she had agreed to be Rose's maid of honor, Rey wanted to amend her relationship with Poe. They were both expecting to engage in certain activities together during the event and she wanted to avoid drama for the bride and groom's sake.

Poe boasted about the upcoming bachelor party that he had planned on some sleazy Mid Rim world. Ray knew that they would have much preferred the party be on a Core world, but also knew that, if found out, Poe would be arrested on sight.

Rey enjoyed the lighter side of the General, as he excitedly told stories about his time with Resistance before Crait. She was thankful that Poe was not Force sensitive as it would not have been so easy to calm the darkness that was swelling within him.

She was also quite surprised at the duties bestowed upon a maid of honor. Having never attended, let alone been part of a wedding, Rey was blissfully ignorant of the role that she agreed to undertake. Wedding showers, bachelorette parties, and dress shopping were beyond her, but Poe gave her a good run down, and for that she thanked him with a smile that showed none of their prior heated discussion that had ended with his hands pressed around her throat.

* * *

 **AN: Who else loves to love these two?**


	17. Part XVII

**Part XVII**

When the bond open later that night Ben practically embraced the breath out of her, kissing frantically at the top of her head. "You're all right," his tone was laced with relief as he checked over her body for any sign of injury.

"I'm fine," she reassured and told him about the rest of the meeting she had with Poe and that before she left, she had read his mind, and the mind sweep held.

He sighed with relief again, but he was still upset, "That was very foolish of you to go off on him like that. To expose yourself. To expose our bond."

"I know," she said looking down as he still held her face in his hands. "I just got so angry. He suspected it was me all along. He didn't trust me, doesn't trust the Force." She looked up at her love, tears threatening to spill from her eyes, "This war has ruined him. There is hardly any light left in him."

Ben cradled her head to his chest, shushing her calmly and stroking her hair, "I think I'm starting to understand why the Force has insisted you stay with the Resistance. A General steeped in darkness and ruled only by anger and pride will continue to kill without conscious or consequence." He tilted her face back up towards his, "Poe has to be stopped, he has to be brought around, otherwise it will mean his death and the deaths of many others, most likely under his own orders…"

The words Ben didn't speak held with her as well. She knew that if Poe kept attacking the New Order, if he kept provoking Emperor Ren, that something would have to be done and Rey didn't want to think about when that day came. She was just thankful that Ben promised to allowed some of her friends passage to safety before any attack would be made.

"He trusts me now…we are going to be working together quite a bit in the upcoming weeks for the wedding."

"The wedding?" Ben asked, looking down slightly confused.

"Finn and Rose…I told you they were engaged."

"Yes…yes you did, I just figured they would be married by now."

Rey shrugged, "Rose said something about a traditional courting period that was accustomed to her home world of Hays Minor." She saw the concerning but also far off look on his face and stepped back into his space, wrapping her arms around his waist, "I'm okay Ben…really."

Looking down on her reassuring face, her safety was, embarrassingly, the furthest thing from his mind, but he shook the other thoughts from his head and decide to sigh, "I trust your powers and I trust your instincts, but I don't trust Dameron so if the Force tells you to run…"

"I know," she strokes his cheek, "Go to Mustafar and wait for you." She already had the coordinates memorized.

The bond was short that night, just enough to pacify Ben's anxiety and allow them a few long kisses.

Their connections over the next few weeks were quick, only a few bonds were held open long enough for them to come together. One night the bond had closed mid blowjob and Ben may have cut a droid in half with his saber that night.

But his favorite moment was when the bond opened and he had to stifle a laugh into his leather glove.

"Don't you dare," Rey hissed lowly.

Tucking his lips into his mouth and pressing his jaw tight, he held up his hands in surrender and again, tried to control the upturn of his cheeks. Rey stood before him in one of the most ridiculous dresses he had ever seen.

It was a blushing rose color, but not like the roses that grew in his grandmother's garden on Naboo, but it was the synthetic color of poorly made faux flowers from the lower levels of Coruscant. Ruffles seemed to criss-cross the dress with no discernible pattern and a high necked cape hooked around her bust line and flowed over her shoulders, but the material looked cheap as if it would crinkle under his touch.

For a moment he figured that either the designer or seamstress were blind for creating such a monstrosity, but then he also realized that Rey wouldn't be standing in the horrid thing if Rose had not picked it out and actually liked it for the wedding. His poor girl…he mused as he wished the bond could close so he could spare himself from having to look at the dress and also to spare Rey any further embarrassment.

"It's bad isn't it?" She tried to fluff at the cape and it did indeed make a sound of balled paper.

"It's…" Ben stopped, trying to think of the words that would least offend her, "…different."

Rey huffed as even his expression was uncomfortable when looking at the dress. She turned towards the mirror that was in the dressing room and she felt him come up behind her but didn't see his reflection. "It makes me itch," she said clawing at the tight collar of the cape as it cut into her neck each time she moved.

"Just be thankful that you only have to wear it for a few hours," he tried to get her to see the brighter side. "And then I will be more than pleased to rid you of it." Ben was thankful for his gloves as he ran his hands from her shoulders and down her arms, the cape feelings like the skin of a dead, sun-dried Hutt.

Rey wanted to be rid of the dress now as well, but she still had to go out and give a twirl for Rose, Kaydel, and a pilot named Nakari who had also been asked to join the bridal party. "You're not on Dantooine," he whispered as he pulled back her hair, wanting to kiss her neck but having to settle on her jaw.

"We're on Ord Mantell," she no longer felt threatened by him knowing where she was in the galaxy.

He hummed into the tender skin between her jaw and ear, "I'm on the _Finalizer_ in Sector M8. I could be at your side in less than an hour." It almost pained him being so closer to her but not being able to completely be with her.

In his travels around the galaxy, he also learned that the closer they were to each other physically, the stronger he could feel her distinctive signature in the Force. This is how he knew she wasn't on the Resistance base and he had meditated on her signature enough to be able to almost estimate how many sectors separated them.

She finally turned to him, needing to see his face again, "We are having something called a _girls weekend_ and Keydal has everything planned down to the minute."

Ben sighed, "But I miss you." He may have sounded like a spoiled child for just a moment.

Rey gave a soft laugh, "You see me all the time…" she fussed with his surcoat, knowing that she was teasing him.

"It's not the same," he protested.

Pushing at his chin to meet his downward gaze, Rey stretched up to peck his pouting lips, "I know." She bit at her lip, trying to consider if they had time for a quickie in the dressing room, but she heard Rose called her name and peered around Ben towards the closed door.

"You have to go, don't you?" He had felt her excitement through their bond and stated to think of all the ways he could wreck that Gods awful dress.

She just nodded and pulled him in for a more heated kiss before walking around him and opening the dressing room door.

"It's perfect!" Rose clapped and went to look at the dress for every angle.

Rey shot another look behind her, one of disbelief and dismay, and this time Ben outright laughed at her circumstance.

The wedding when off without a hitch. The day was cool and clear, hints of spring were on the budding trees and Rey wasn't sweating in her plasti-fiber dress. Everyone from the base had gathered out in the field that Rey usually used for saber practice and the mass of bodies formed an isle down the center.

Walking up to where another pilot named Tarash Cohmre stood, Rey just focused on not tripping over the long hem. Rose had tried to protest, but Rey proudly wore her saber at her back, noting that a Jedi should always be ready.

Poe stood across from her looking handsome in a pressed New Republic uniform. Being the highest ranking officer on the base, it would have been Poe to marry Finn and Rose, but he felt that being the best man was more important, so Captain Cohmre had been asked to perform the honor.

Needing Poe to be unaware that anything was awry between them after Rey had taken the memory of his hards wrapped around her throat for his mind, she had learned to relax her features and smile as if they were still just Poe and Rey who met on the Falcon over a year ago. The danger of his darkness was always at the forefront of her mind and she was always just skimming the intent of his thoughts.

Finn shifted nervously and Poe placed a friendly hand on his shoulder, whispered something in his ear and then shot a wink and smile in Rey's direction.

The wind blew overhead and everyone in attendance fell silent as Rose came upon the group. All heads turned and all eyes followed her sweeping steps up the isle. Her dress was white and made of slightly better martial, but it still makes a rubbing sound when each move.

Looking from Rose's face to Finn's, Rey mused that they could both be in gunny sacks and still be blissfully happy in this moment. Love pulsed thought the Force and it made her heart light. One day…some day she hoped to be able to tell Finn and Rose about Ben, surely two people who love each other the way that she loves Ben would understand.

Their vows are simple and even funny at one point, Finn promising to not steal the blankets and Rose pledging to never make him eat burra fish ever again. They spoke words of being lost and found, Rose repeating her words from Crait where she had saved him out of love.

Tears spilled from Rey's eyes at the sentiment. She thought about how much she had forfeited to be here and how it took Finn literally taking her hand and dragging her into this war for her to be awakened and made whole. For a slight moment she envied Finn and Rose, as they were announced as husband and wife and kissed to applause and catcalls. She would never have this and it made a piece of her ache.

It was day four hundred and thirty-one and they boarded her gray shuttle. "Are you guys excited?" Rey called from the cockpit, thankful to be out of the dress and back into simple black leggings and a cream tunic.

"So excited," Rose said from the cargo hold where she was strapping herself into a jump seat next to her new husband.

They had plans to honeymoon for a few days on Coruscant and Rey had, with _no_ ulterior motives, offered to fly them there as it was on the way to her next 'supply pickup'.

None of the three had ever been to the city world and truthfully Rey was also very excited, mainly because she hadn't told Ben that she was coming. With the use of her datapad and a few secret communications with Arlan, Rey was set to surprise Ben, which with the bond she wasn't sure could happen.

For this trip, she actually tired something that, after first seeing Luke on Ahch-To, she swore she would never do, but Rey turned herself off to the Force. She knew that Ben could feel her coming and she also didn't want the bond to open and blow her cover. So after consulting her texts, she dimmed her light until it was closed behind a fortress in her mind.

Something she didn't expect about turning away from the Force was how much it hurt. She had staggered in the cockpit as they entered the Braxant Run hyperspace lane. Finn and Rose didn't notice that she writhed in pain, sucking in deep gulps of air as she wanted to claw at her heart. She didn't know how Luke had done it…even after about an hour the intense burn was gone, but she had never felt so empty.

Rey was thankful that the trip would only take them a few hours and once she was back in Ben's arms, she could open herself back up to the cosmic Force that by now felt like a second life's blood.

The world of Coruscant glowed as Rey started her approach. She couldn't feel the normal pulsing of life forms through the Force and she wondered if this is what everyone else felt like. Even though she was awed by the city that stretched across the entire planet, Rey wanted to see if through the Force.

She landed on a public tarmac and hugged both Finn and Rose, "I'll be back in four standard days and I'll pick you up right here."

Finn nodded and checked that his watch was synced to the time that the shuttle kept. "Are you sure that you'll be fine getting to Antar 4 by yourself?"

Rey waved them off, "I've done tons of runs alone and plus, who is going to mess with a Jedi?"

"The First Order," Finn said back with hate dripping from his tone.

"They haven't caught me yet," Rey said simply and playfully, wanting to get them on their way so she could make the twenty-minute flight to the center of Galactic City.

"Finn, she'll be okay," Rose reassured as she pulled at his arm, she was eager to start their honeymoon and secretly was still not thrilled with her husband's continued closeness with Rey.

"You better get used to listening to her Finn," Rey joked as she watched them walk down the ramp. "The first rule of marriage is that your wife is always right."

"Where did you hear that nonsense?" Finn called back from the tarmac with jest as Rose lightly backhand slapped him on the chest.

"Just some old man I met on a run once." The age difference between herself and Ben had never really bothered her, but any time she playfully called him 'old man' she knew he would prove her wrong by fucking her into reconsidering the label.

She was back in the air in under a minute and headed to the coordinates that Arlan had sent her. Her covertly coded ship would be able to land without any trouble and she found the landing area easily as Ben's Command Shuttle was proudly perched atop.

It was a strange feeling to be so close to him, but not really feel him, and Rey again wanted to race to him so that she could fling back open the doors to her connection to the Force. But a pit settled in her stomach when she exited the shuttle and Arlan was running towards her.

"You have to come quick," Arlan said, slightly out of breath.

Rey's eyes went wild, "What's wrong? Is it Ben?"

"Something happened…he won't tell us what is going on, but he is in a bad state." The elite trooper started to move towards a set of doors across the landing area and Rey followed behind, almost wanting to demand that they move faster.

Into the building and bypassing the elevator for a set of stairs, they went down two levels and then to another set of double doors. Rey's shoulders jumped when she heard the sound of something crashing against a wall from within followed by a crying yell that sounded like a wounded animal.

Arlan opened the doors and they both entered. If Rey had time, she would have noticed that they were standing in an elegant entry way that led down a few stairs to a living area with couches, tables, and plush carpet that was now littered with glass fragments from broken vases, flowers that once belonged in massive arrangements now wilted under the stomping boots of a very unstable Emperor Ren.

"Ben," Rey half called, half whispered across to him.

His gaze shot up to her, his Empress stood as if up on a dais, her eyes full of concern and fear and for a moment he thought the Force was mocking him, projecting her from the great beyond to further his suffering.

But then his guard reached out and touched Rey's shoulder, trying to assess if the Emperor intended her any harm, and as he saw that she was solid and true, he fell to is knees and wept.

"Leave us," Rey said with all of the authority of her title and Arlan bowed before exiting out of the same door they had entered.

Once they were alone, Rey moved quickly to where he had crumpled, standing before him and reaching out to run her hands through his hair as he hung his head. In a quick motion, Ben reached out, grasping her around the waist, balling his hands in the fabric that fell at her hips, and buried his face into her middle.

"What happened?" Rey asked quietly.

He wiped his face into her tunic before looking up her body at her concerned expression, "You disappeared."

"I'm right here…"

"No," he sniffed. "Your signature was just gone. I couldn't feel you in the galaxy…in the Force. The bond was no more. It felt like some one punched into my chest and took my heart…" More fat tears ran down his cheeks as he remembered the pain that he had felt. "I thought you were dead…"

Rey hadn't thought about what it would feel like for Ben when she closed off to the Force and her girlish desire to surprise him had turned into a horror. "I'm right here," she said again as she cupped his face in her hands and she opened herself back up to the Force.

Ben's tense body relaxed as if he had just been shown all the answers to the universe. A tidal wave of her light washed over him and his body was once again made whole. He gripped at her left wrist and planted kisses into her palm, to feel her warm and alive was more gratifying than tapping into any other great power within the Force.

The pain he felt through the Force when Han died…at Luke's sacrifice…when he mother drew last breath…all of that pain combined could not compare to what it felt like to sense Rey's light fading. "What did you do?" He asked, more concerned than accusing.

Now tears were spilling down Rey's cheeks. When she was opened back up to the Force she also was flooded with their bond and she felt all of his terror and the helpless void that he had been in and her heart broke. "I just wanted to surprise you…I knew you would sense me coming…I shut out the Force…I'm so sorry," she stuttered and hiccuped through her ramble.

"You sweet but naive girl…" Ben lovingly scolded as he stood and collected her up in his arms, now kissing at her face and neck, wanting to have contact with ever inch of her and bath in her light.

The next time Rey blinked they were in a darkened room and Ben was setting her back down her feet and his hands went to work on her clothing as he continued the assault with his lips, "Don't ever do that again Rey."

"I won't…" Even in the dark, she met the intense and pleading gaze of his eyes.

"Don't ever close yourself off from the Force…don't ever close yourself off from me."

"I promise…" she breathed out as he picked her up again by the rear and thighs, resting her back on something soft…a bed she guessed.

Ben was pushing into her within seconds, going almost as slow as their first time, wanting to savor the physical, emotional, and spiritual connection that they shared. He rested his forehead against hers and she opened her mind to him and he groaned seeing the pain that she had put herself through for the sake of spontaneity.

In turn, she got the full brunt of his suffering through their opened bond and her body shook not only with pleasure but also with tears. He had fallen so quickly to the dark when he thought she was dead…that his star had faded…that his home was gone…he had sunk into an abyss and he was still steeped in dark energy that cloaked over them both as his thrusts became rougher and more urgent.

"I'm sorry," Rey wasn't sure if her words were spoken aloud or through the bond, but she vowed to never put either of them through this agony ever again.


	18. Part XVIII

**Part XVIII**

As he grunted into the crook of her neck followed quickly by a heaving sob, Rey's body that was coiled tight, snapped. It was as if her core was beckoning him to be pulled deeper into her with each pulse of her muscles. He held himself, steadfast, with his chest pressed to hers as he gripped his arms around her shoulders.

"I'm right here," Rey said softly, attempting to soothe him again, running her fingers through his hair and down his back before she started to hum his lullaby.

They held each other for a long time, shifting some in the bed as he grew soft within her, but he simply rolled them over on their sides, still clutching her tightly to his chest. Every few minutes he would place a kiss to the top of her head, just to reassure himself that she was really there.

It had felt so real. She had just faded into nothingness and Ben thought he would sink into the pain, unable to resurface. It was a miracle that Arlan was able to keep him within his apartment since he had at once wanted to take the entire fleet and decent upon Dantooine.

Hundreds of scenario raced through his mind at once and the darkness of doubt flooded his mind. Beyond the normal dangers of the galaxy, Ben was most shaken by the prospect of Poe finally having his retribution for Rey's tertiary towards the Resistance and for attempting to alter his mind. Ben feared that Rey's mind manipulation had not stuck and that she had been taken, tortured for informational, and then killed.

Ben always swore to himself that if any of the misguided misfits of the Resistance hurt one hair on Rey's head that he would bring all of the fury and hellfire of his New Order and the Darkside of the Force down upon them without second guessing his actions.

Ben couldn't place any blame on Rey, she simply didn't know. The pain she felt on her side was enough for her to endure, but she had no idea what implications her actions had on the other side of the bond. If she were really to die before him, Ben wouldn't know what he would do. Striking himself down to be with her in the Force had crossed his mind, but he also knew that his destiny was to have a warrior's death.

As conduits for the Cosmic Force, both Rey and himself were privy to not only visions of the past and intuitions of the present, but also glimpses into the future. When they had touched hands on Ahch-To everything they knew of themselves and the galaxy was exchanged. Ben was able to see Rey's past that she had long forgotten. Rey was able to access Ben's knowledge of saber forms.

But spending too much time seeking images of the future would drive one mad, so Ben had been very careful about dipping into that part of the Force. He knew that he had been promised a future with Rey, but each time they manipulated a mind, each time they made a change, there was a possibility of the future shifting, and what Rey had done to Poe, even as self-saving as it was, it may still have changed the tides of their life together.

He had to keep telling himself that they were okay, that she was in his arms, and that they would have long lives together. The Force had promised them both that.

"What are you doing here?" Ben finally asked, shifting away from her warm body enough so he could look down upon her face.

"Finn and Rose got married this morning and they are honeymooning here on Coruscant."

"So you decided to surprise me…" just now could he lightly chuckle about the whole ordeal. "How did you know I would even be here?"

"Arlan," Rey answered simply. "Don't be upset with her Ben, she didn't know that I was going to close the bond, she just told me where to land and that you would be here…" she looked around the darkened room. "Where are we by the way?"

"This is our home…"

Rey's face lit up. "Show me," she whispered excitedly into the space between them.

Ben groaned again, not quite ready to let her go, but also knew that he wouldn't deny her anything. So he sat up, pulling her along with him before walking over to a row of doors that were set into the dark paneling of the room. Opening the door on the right, he watched her face as she took in the contents of her closet. "I also find Arlan useful for many things…"

Rey had reached out to touch a silk robe that hung on the back of the door before she pulled a face, retracing her fingers as if the soft fabric had burned her.

His snort made her chest heat. "Not that, Rey." He had felt her disgust and jealousy flow over to him. "I had her pick out some clothes for you."

Feeling embarrassed and thinking back to Endor when Rey was so confident in her bond to Ben, that even a woman in his guard didn't cause one speck of doubt, but somehow this was different. This was their home, their bedchamber, someplace personal and intimate. She reached back out and ran her hands along the fine clothes within the closet, knowing that Ben was just trying to make her feel comfortable here.

They both stood there, completely bare and Ben flayed himself open to her, giving her access to every part of him through the bond. He had nothing to hide from her, and he would bare himself every minute of every day for the rest of their lives if only to receive her feelings of love and trust in return.

Rey reached out, laying her palm on his naked chest, "I do trust you…thank you…and thank Arlan. You both were very thoughtful."

He took her hand from his chest and placed a kiss to her warm palm, "Why don't you put something on and then I'll show you around."

She nodded and reached back for the pale purple robe. The material was cool as she slid it over her shoulders and it caused her to shiver. The sleeves were long but the hem fell just at her mid-thigh. Not bothering with any undergarments because she guessed that they would join again before the night was out, she just wrapped the front of the robe across her chest and knotted the tie around her waist.

"So are we in your palace, Emperor?" She said with a lopsided smile.

"No," he said with his own smile. "We are in a high-rise, granted one of the more affluent ones in the city center, but no palace." He studied her face, "Are you disappointed?"

She had to think for a moment, "Not disappointed, just surprised."

"I'm not here enough to warrant a palace and also it would be a waste of resources. The grounds where the Senate was housed are being repurposed into greenspace and affordable housing for those on the lower levels." While speaking he had pulled on a pair of gray training pants.

He never ceased to amaze her. Kylo Ren had truly turned and she loved him all the more for it. "I think that is a wonderful idea," she reached up and kissed his full lips. "Now show me our home."

Ben's heart swelled even more and he took her hand, "Well you've seen the bedroom…"

"I've seen the bed," Rey corrected with a flirty look.

"What more is there?" He shot back as she swatted at him playfully.

But now Rey took her time to really look around the room. The walls were a dark gray, which she didn't mind since she was used to sleeping in a darkened space. There was a large bed that centered the room and small sleek tables on either side. What she was drawn to the most of the art…an impressionist countryside with rolling hills, a deep blue body of water, purple flowering vines and dark evergreen trees. "Why do I know this…"

Walking up behind her, he rested his chin on the top her head, "The small painting of my mother's that you gave me, I had someone go to Naboo and depict it as it is now."

Reaching out, she felt the texture of the paints, "It's beautiful."

He hummed in reply and then pulled her back towards the other side of the room, "Closets you know…" and they went through an archway. "Fresher…" he announced as they entered the marble covered room.

Just like on his Command Shuttle, the room was large enough to accommodate two, but along with an oversized shower, there was a deep soaking tub and Rey's body ached to feel total submerged in warm water.

But the tour must go on, so they moved out of the sleeping chamber and towards the living room. Ben stopped them at the threshold and swept her up in his arms, "I'll get the droids to come clean this up," he said as he stepped through shards of broken glass. "But this is the living area…"

The room had a beautiful view of the city out of the full wall of windows that sat opposite the entryway. The living area was sunken down a few steps from where the double doors were, and a set of couches were situated towards the windows. Ben continued to carry her past the entry and through another arch. "Kitchen," he said simply finally setting her down.

Rey looked around at the simple space, gray and white cabinets with a white bench top that almost sparkled in the overhead lights. She walked to the stove and then looked back over her shoulder at him and smiled, "I guess I'll need to learn to cook."

"I have a cooking droid right now…or Tyris when he feels up to it."

Next, she inspected an intimate dining area just off the kitchen, simple enough to eat regular meals but also nice enough to entertain. Rey's head swam with the idea of having dignitaries, ambassadors, kings, queens, and Force knows who else over to their home to talk peace and prosperity through the galaxy.

Through the dining room was a set of double doors, sliding them open Rey stepped into an office with dark furniture and bookshelves lined with rare real books that Ben had been collecting from different worlds he visited. A single desk sat at the far end, "When you are here…I mean when you are really here, I will have another desk moved in for you," Ben offered, wanting her to know how much he wanted her to be his equal in every way.

Rey moved to a low couch that rested in front of a fireplace and she tried it out for comfort, "I wouldn't mind ruling from here," she said, bouncing on the soft cushion a few times and looking up at him with a smile. She still stood by her decision to rule with him, but as his supporter, his counsel, his light. She may be his equal in the Force, but she never wished to sit upon a throne and hand down orders.

They walked through another door by the desk and were back out on the entry landing. Directly across is another door, much like the one they just exited. "What's through there?" Rey asked pointed and started across the entry.

Ben took large steps to keep up with her, putting his hand on the knob before she could, "It's nothing…"

Searching his mind, she could only see nervousness and she gave him an unconvinced look before moving his hand and turning the knob herself and walking into the dark room. The lights came up slowly, stopping at just casing a soft glow and Rey studied the room.

It was smaller than the study or their sleeping quarters and only had a few pieces of furniture in it as if it wasn't complete or it was perhaps an afterthought. A breathtaking mural took over an entire wall and she walked up to it, touching the two bright spots in an otherwise dark backdrop of blues and purples. "Two suns…" she mused.

"It's Ahch-To, standing on the precipice of the temple at sunrise."

Rey rounded on him, "You went to Ahch-To?"

He nodded, "Day one eighty-five. I went to forgive Luke, to connect to the Force, and seek guidance. I buried Kylo Ren's hate and vengeance there."

Scanning the room again Rey looked form his solum face to a wooden rocking chair in the corner that appeared handmade and old, then looked to the single day bed against the wall opposite the painting. "What is this room, Ben?" Her gaze returned to him.

His body tensed, the same nervousness rolled off him again. Even though they had talked about it before, there had never been a physical manifestation of their dreams, there had never been a solid and physical place for it… "It's a nursery."

Rey wasn't sure if her reaction would be considered proper for an Empress or for a common woman, but she leaped at him, catching her arms around his neck and kissed him with everything within her.

Ben sank to his knees, resting her on his thighs as she started to roll her hips against his awakened length and he mused that this was a story they would never tell their future child, how their mother and father had made passionate love on the floor of the nursery even before a child was even conceived.

Minutes or perhaps hours later, as they both lie breathless and sweat covered on the plush carpet, Rey looked back over at the Ahch-To sunrise and her heart almost hurt to return to the water covered planet.

Ben felt her thinking about her time on the island and he rolled towards her, tracing patterns on her flat stomach, "It was wet and cold there. The caretakers were hospitable, but there were the strangest little birds there."

Rey giggled, "Porgs," she said turning to look at him. "Chewie kept a few as pets."

He rolled his eyes, "Leave it to the overgrown mutt to be a complete softy towards the annoying little things." His face lit up when talking about the old Wookiee.

"Oh no." Her stomach bounced with her laugh. "He tried to eat one…with its family watching from the bush. The big guy didn't have it in him."

"Told you he's a softy," Ben remembered the times when he would sit atop Chewie's shoulders and pretend he was a pilot racing through the clouds.

He propped himself up on his right elbow, running his left hand over her forehead and through her sex rumpled hair. Bending down to kiss her once more, they were both pulled away by the sound of someone entering the home.

"Ren?" Came the voice of Tyris.

Rey scampered to her feet, grabbing her robe and covering herself quickly. "That door leads to our room," Ben said pointed to the far end of the room and watched Rey move towards it, turning back once to give him a brilliant smile before she disappeared into their sleeping quarters.

He sat up, sighing happily and then stood, pulling back on his pants and going through the main door to the entry. "What is it, Tyris?"

The guard stood up straight, "Arlan said that your quarters may need some attention and I was going to order some droids in to see to it." His eyes roamed the living area and while he had seen the Emperor lash out in anger, this was something different entirely.

"And Arlan didn't think she could come to deliver this message herself," Ben quirked up an eyebrow.

Tyris shifted from foot to foot, "Permission to speak freely, sir?"

Ben wanted to roll his eyes. It wasn't that he did it out of distrust, but he has access to their minds, to know their every intent. If there was ever a situation where they needed to fight, he wanted them to act like one. But he still gave them free will of what they decided to voice. "Granted."

"Arlan thinks you will dismiss her for her part in…this…" he gestured to the destroyed living area.

While Ben was upset that one of _his_ guards went behind his back, he couldn't find fault in her intention. Arlan had followed the Empress' orders and if Ben was being truthful with himself, he hoped that Rey and Arlan could be friends. Perhaps that would help Rey adjust to life with him when she felt it was time.

But he sighed anyway, "The fault lies with the Empress and her alone. I have _thoroughly_ handled that situation," his body heated with the thought of how he devoured her body, "so there is no need to speak of it again." Tyris seemed to visibly relax and Ben continued. "Tell Arlan and the others that they will join us for dinner this evening." It was the best olive branch he could offer.

Tyris nodded his head, "Yes, sir. What would you like me to make?"

Ben shrugged, "Surprise us…" He turned to walk away but stopped and looked back at the guard. "Send in the droids and then return in an hour to start supper," and he strode into the sleeping quarters without another word.

He walked in the fresher just in time to see Rey slipping her robe from her shoulders. Her bare back curved in all the right places, a deep divot in the middle leading down to her round rear. He groaned as if in pain, and perhaps he was. They had already made love twice since she arrived but she was always so ready for him, and he would thrust himself raw if it would bring her even an ounce of pleasure.

Thankfully she also felt his pain, "Don't look at me like that Ben, I need some time to recover."

Not being able to stop his body reaction to her nakedness, he crossed the cold stone floor and cupped her cheek, kissing her as if to say, _my desire for you will never be quenched_.

"Take a bath with me," Rey said against his lips as the warm water filled the basin behind them.

He just took her hand, steadying her as she stepped into the large white freestanding tub. Before joining her, he rounded the basin and opened the large window that sat behind the bath. He stripped from his pants, his erection still stood proudly as he slid into the warm water, setting his back to the opposite side of the tub so he could face her.

"Won't someone see us?" Rey questioned looking towards the wide window.

"Not this high up," he remarked, picking up one of her feet and started to kneed his strong thumbs into her soles. She groaned with satisfaction.

"I was going to complain about you sitting way over there, but now…" her voice dropped off as he rubbed into the arch of her right foot and her head lulled back and her eyes drifted closed.

She had added a scented bath oil to the water and it made his hands move effortlessly along her skin. He would have to thank Arlan for this as well since he had not used the tub since occupying the apartment. If there was one thing he was certain of, it is that Kylo Ren does not do bubble baths…alone.

"I've never had a bath before," she breathed out as he worked his hands up her calves, working any stress out of her lean muscles.

"Really?" He asked, pulling her foot out of the water long enough to place a kiss at her ankle.

Sitting up at the cold contrast of the air on her heated skin, she stammered, "Well I've bathed before…"

He smirked, "I know you bathe, Rey."

She settled back down, the water coming up to her chin. "On Jakku I would mostly just scrub the grease and sweat from my body with sand."

"That's why you have such little body hair," he mused as he continued to rub at her smooth legs.

Rey just hummed in response, thinking that she would have gone a lifetime with hairy legs to not have to deal with bleeding and cracked skin. "And a forty-year-old Rebel base doesn't have all the comforts of a home."

"I hope one day you will be comfortable here, Rey." His expression was open and vulnerable. "I want so much to make this our home."

Ben may not know how important those words were for her. This was the first home…first true home she ever had. The AT-AT was an escape from oppression, the _Falcon_ was never her's to claim, and the Resistance base had become a job, a task to be completed so she could return to Ben…to Ben and their _home_.

A wide feeling in her chest swelled and her eyes began to sting, "I want that too."

* * *

 **AN: I have to say that you readers are amazing. The love that you pour out to me is next level and it makes me smile like an idiot every time I read a comment. So thank you so very much from the bottom of my heart.**


	19. Part XIX

**Part XIX**

They stayed in the bath until the water started to cool. "I invited the guards over for dinner tonight," Ben told Rey as he held out a large towel for her, wrapping it around her shoulders.

"That was nice of you," she wasn't sure if this was a common occurrence or if this was something he was doing for her, to show that their lives wouldn't be filled with just people that held important titles. He knew she came from meager beginnings, but also knew that she could shine brighter than the most jewel draped queen.

"Arlan thinks I am cross with her…"

"No…" Rey padded over to him, still wrapped in her towel, and pressed her hands to his chest, her expression pleading. "I made her do it. You know…Empress commands and all." The last thing she wanted was to cause Arlan to lose her position or even her life, she had heard storied from Finn about Kylo Ren killing for lesser offenses. She stood up straighter, "I take full responsibility."

Sensing her feelings through the Force, Ben smiled at his Empress of the People. She was willing to go up against him for what was right and just. "I'm not angry with her. I'm glad you two have hit it off, but I need to be able to trust my guard fully. They can't keep secrets from me."

Rey bit at the corner of her lower lip, "Then maybe she could be assigned to me…when the time comes."

Each time she made plans for when she would finally join him, Ben's heart fluttered with excitement and anticipation. "I'm sure that can be arranged."

She smiled, "Then she will have to keep my schemes in confidence." Privately, Ray had been worried about leaving all of her friends behind, knowing that she would miss Rose desperately but also aware that standing by Ben would sever any sisterly affection between them. Through the coded communications on the datapad, Rey almost dared to call Arlan a friend.

Ben shifted uncomfortably, a slight pout wearing on his expression. "You shouldn't need to…or want to keep anything from me. There is nothing you can do that would make me love you less or not be proud to call you mine."

Rey returned with her own pout, "I want to be able to surprise you, be spontaneous. There is no reason why I shouldn't be able to keep some things to myself."

He took two steps and was standing before her, taking her face in his hands and lifting it to his. He placed a lingering kiss to her forehead before speaking, "Shield your thoughts if you must but never turn them off, never again."

Simply nodding, Rey brought her lips up to his once again to convey her regret at hurting him so deeply and also to show her devotion to the Force and their bond within it.

They dressed in their sleeping quarters, opting for more casual clothing. Rey slid into a pair of black leggings and a dark gray tunic leaving her feet bare. Ben dressed in black slacks and a black tunic. Not being as comfortable with informalities as Rey was, he pulled on a pair of boots.

The soft whirl of two cleaning droids was heard from the living room as they crossed the apartment to the kitchen. "That smells amazing Tyris," Rey commented as she padded up to the stove to see what he was making.

Tyris stood at attention, "Thank you, Empress."

She rolled her eyes, "I told all of you to call me Rey."

"Yes, ma'am," Tyris was still a little uncomfortable being so informal. It as only half a year ago that he received his own name, having been called FN 6743 before then.

One of the changes under Emperor Ren's New Order was that all of the trooper records were unsealed. The child soldiers of the First Order were given a choice, to leave and make their own lives, or stay, for a fair wage, and serve out terms or contacts with the New Order. Part of this decree was also, each trooper was given access to their personal files, which revealed their given names and homeworlds.

Unlike Cale, Tyris was happy to stay on the Emperor's guard for the rest of his career. He had no interest in joining the Knights or being sent on never-ending missions to the far reaches of the galaxy. Being close to Arlan was also a perk that he would publicly deny if asked.

Just as Tyris was holding out a spoon full of sauce for Rey to try, there was a knock at the door. Ben excused himself and walked to the entry.

Cale smiled wide when the door opened, "I hear the Empress is back with us, so I brought a bottle of wine." He held out a green glass bottle.

"How thoughtful," Ben deadpanned, knowing that the wine had come from his own personal reserve.

Davin ducked into the apartment with just a respectful nod to the Emperor. And then there was Arlan, standing at the back of the hall, her hands twisting in front of her hips and her gaze downcast.

"Arlan," Ben's voice was deep and commanding.

"Emperor," she answered, still not looking up.

He sighed, remembering that he had promised Rey that he wouldn't reprimand his guard. "Won't you come in?" He asked simply, holding out his hand to usher her forward.

Arlan changed a quick glance up at her Emperor and saw no anger in his face. "Thank you, sir."

Once she was through the threshold, Ben reached out and grabbed Arlan around her upper arm. He closed the door and then turned back to her wide eye's look since he had never touched her before. He pulled her in close to him so that he could speak down directly into her face, "Don't you ever keep anything from me ever again. Even if the Empress asks for your secrecy, you will report it to me or I will be forced to take it from you. Am I understood?"

While she had felt Ren enter her mind before, it had been just a gentle push, but she had heard horror stories of his interrogation techniques and did not wish for her brain to be ripped to ribbons. "Yes, Emperor," she answered without hesitation.

"When her Imperial Majesty joins us permanently, she has requested you to be head of her guard. I would implore you not to disappoint her or myself in this regard."

"Yes, sir…" she stammered, bowing her head. "Thank you, sir."

"Don't thank me," he released her arm. "Thank Rey."

In the kitchen, Rey had graciously taken the wine from Cale and said a sweet hello to Davin. "Did Arlan come too?" She asked the two guards.

Tyris' shoulders tensed at the mention of Arlan's name and Cale just nodded solemnly. While Rey knew she had asked Ben to spare the guard's position and life, she also knew that he would handle it on his own terms. She had to respect that he was right, for the time being, the guards were part of his unit and he needed to be able to trust them completely.

So a few minutes later when Arlan walked into the kitchen, Rey gave her a partly sad but also partly reassuring smile, which the guard returned. "Ben, can you open the wine for us?" Rey asked as she went searching the cabinets for glasses.

"Second door over," Ben offered as he watched Rey stretch up on her tiptoes searching the top shelves. For a moment he thought about being entertaining and opening the bottle with his saber, but then considered how upset she would be with the mess it would make. So he just took out a traditional wine opener and went to work on the cork.

When the dinner was ready, Ben and Rey each took seats at the heads of the table. Cale sat at Ben's right side and Davin at his left. Arlan was to Rey's right and Tyris sat across from the female trooper. The supper was a simple pasta dish with garden greens and bread that Tyris said was from one of the most esteemed bakeries in the city center.

Rey thought that perhaps this was the first family dinner she had ever experienced. Back on the base, they all ate in the mess hall, and while she would group herself with dear friends, it was always rushed and she almost always felt as if she was intruding on Rose and Finn. Looking across the table at Ben, she saw his knowing smile and she guessed that he felt her warm emotions through the bond.

The conversation was light, much like their time around the fire on Endor and soon Rey was sitting back in her chair and rubbing her expanding midsection. "That was delicious Tyris. You must give me lessons some time."

"Any time, ma'am," he almost blushed under the praise of his Empress.

"Why don't you ladies go check out the view while us guys get this cleaned up," Cale suggested as he took a few steps over to Rey, offering his hand to help her stand from her seat.

Arlan stood as well and ushered her Empress towards the doors at the far end of the dining room. There was a terrace that stretched across the entire back side of the apartment, with doors to the living area and bedchamber as well.

As Rey passed Ben she set down her wine glass and he filled it without having to be asked. She gave him a sweet smile before bending down to give him a slow kiss on the lips. After parting from him, Rey followed Arlan out onto the terrace.

The city had its own ebb and flow. They were far above the surface, but they could still hear the bustle from below. Ships came into and out of the atmosphere and buzzed between buildings. What Rey enjoyed the most was the twinkle of lights that could be seen for miles in each direction. "A galaxy within a city," she mused thinking that there were humanoids and creatures from every world on Coruscant. A melting pot of life and for the first time since landing, she let herself absorb it through the Force.

Sipping on their wine, the two women looked out over the skyline. Rey took this time to really appraise the female guard. Arlan was slightly taller than Rey but just as toned and slender. Her pale purple hair was surprising natural, her pale skin almost glowed, and by contrast, her eyes were dark as night. Rey mused that Arlan had an otherworldly beauty about her, but was unsure which planet she haled from.

"Thank you for talking to the Emperor on my behalf." Arlan started.

"It is I who should be thanking you for keeping him here until I could come. I put him through quite a bit of pain and I'm sorry you had to witness that."

"Yeah…I've never seen him like that…" They were both quiet for a long moment before Arlan took a deep breath and spoke, "I don't assume to understand the Force, or what it means to you or Ren, but what happened back there?"

Rey sighed, not seeing any harm in being truthful with Arlan, "Ben and I share a special bond, we were brought together through the Cosmic Force and it means we can share knowledge, send and sense emotions in each other, and even communicate across long distances.

"Since I wanted to surprise him and knew that he would sense me as soon as I entered the sector, I did something so irresponsible."

When Arlan didn't push, Rey breathed in and out deeply. "I shut out the Force. I cut our bond and he thought that I was dead."

Arlan shivered and nodded, now understating why her master had reacted the way he did. "I've never seen him like that Rey…" Ren had been inconsolable. He had let out some of the most feral screams, clutching and clawing at his body as if some invisible force was cutting him from the inside out. He had crushed a durasteel table with just a twitch of his fingers and when he pulled at his hair and yelled out a heart-stopping ' _No!_ ', every glass object in the room had shattered. Shards, water droplets, and flowers that had once adorned vases floated in mid-air as if time had stopped and Arlan had looked around in awe and horror.

Ren's eyes had flashed gold for just a moment before a sob had racked his body. Just then a comm had come in that a shuttle was coming in for a landing on the Emperor's personal tarmac and Arlan had raced up to retrieve the Empress.

Another shiver ran through the trooper's body as she thought back to earlier that day. "Why are the two of you separated? Why not come here and be with him?"

Rey sipped her wine, the warmth spread in her gut and also set a color on her cheeks. "I'm with the Resistance…" she started to answer.

Arlan spit out the mouthful of wine she had taken in. "The Resistance? What…how…but…"

Blushing further, Rey had just assumed that Ben had said something to them about it. "I'm Rey…like bounty on my head for killing Supreme Leader Snoke…last Jedi…Beacon for the Resistance Rey…"

The trooper still looked on with a visually horrified look. She didn't know what to do with this information. She wasn't dense enough to think that Ren didn't know every piece of this, and he called her Empress, even though no official announcement had been made to Rey's rank and title and now Arlan knew why.

Rey laughed into her wine glass, "Ben tried to kill me…" she thought for a moment and counted on her fingers, "two or three times and I gave him that sweet scar," she ran her fingers down the right side of her face.

Arlan's expression had still not changed so Rey tried less humor and more facts, "Look, Snoke had to go. You have seen the changes that Ben has been able to accomplish and that would never have happened under the First Order." She twisted the stem of her glass between her fingers. "Back then I didn't know what kind of ruler he would be and I refused him. But the Force had other plans and we kept being shoved together whether we liked it or not and the rest is history."

"But why stay with the Resistance?"

"Their command has gone dark. They won't stop the attacks or the killing until their last fighter is run through by a menacing red saber, I suspect. I want to…need to convince them to settle with the New Order, become an ally before it is too late."

"So work from the inside?"

Rey nodded, "I rule with Ben through our bond and these little meetings we have and I try to bring the Resistance back around to the light."

Realization hit Arlan and her wide-eyed gaze met Rey's, "His birthday celebration…he went off world and told us to take the MK3 shuttle to Wobani for a few days."

"I only warned him of the attack, but I didn't know how the Resistance was going to do it. He came to me on Jakku."

"And the MK2 was shot down…"

Rey frowned, "The loss of life was so senseless."

Arlan nodded, "FN 103 used to bunk with me and a few other female troopers. She was sweet, planning to finish out her contact and then return to her homeworld…found out she had a sister who ran a hotel."

"May the Force be with them all," Rey said out into the twinkling lights of the city.

Just a beat later Ben walked from the apartment out onto the terrace. He came up behind Rey, wrapping his arms around her slim middle and resting his chin atop her head."I love the view from up here."

"It is quite spectacular," Rey said in a breathy tone.

Arlan felt as if she was intruding on a private moment so with a quiet ' _Emperor_ ' she dismissed her self back into the home.

Ben let out an exhausted sigh, twisting his head slightly to quickly gaze over his shoulder, "She's telling them about you."

"They have a right to know, Ben."

When he just hummed back in reply, Rey tried to reason with him. "They have a right to know what they're fighting for…what they're willing to lay their lives down for. I'm just sorry you didn't tell them sooner, I would hate for them to feel betrayed by us."

"It was none of their business."

Rey quirked up her eyebrow at him, "You have a woman who you call Empress and take to bed often, that you secretly run around the galaxy with, expecting them to pledge life and loyalty to and instruct them to not speak about it to anybody else in the Order." Now she raised both her eyebrows at him, "And you expect them not to be curious."

He sighed again knowing she was right.

"Do you think they will treat me differently knowing that I'm with the Resistance?" Rey's expression was painted with worry. She had come to be quite fond of Ben's guard unit and couldn't think of them being uncomfortable around her because of this revelation.

Ben leaned down over her shoulder, pressing his lips softly to her, "You aren't with the Resistance…you are with me."

"So I am," she whispered into their kiss.

"And if they give you any trouble, let me know and I'll take care of it."

Rey pulls the face. "I don't need you to fight my battles for me. If they have an issue with the path that I have chosen, I will deal with them myself."

He chuckled and rubbed at the split skin just above his brow, "I'm well aware you can fight your own battles." Rey reached up to run her thumb along his scar and he nuzzled into her palm before placing a kiss upon it, "Let's get back inside. Tyris brought something special for dessert."

Her eyes lit up and she scampered out of his hold and back toward the terrace doors.

Laid out on the table was an assortment of chocolates much like those that Ben had left her during one of their bonds, "Are these from Chandrila too?" Rey asked excitedly.

"No," Tyris answered. "They are local to Galactic City."

"If I had known you were coming, I would have had some other treats brought in from Chandrila," Ben's voice was teasing but also held an edge of annoyance, perhaps still a little upset by the events of the early day.

"Don't start Ben," Rey said lowly, not wanting to spoil their good time.

They each took back up their seats, but this time Ben pulled Rey into his lap hoping to maybe lick chocolate from her fingers again. He thought back to the first time they had kissed through the bond and was amazed at how far they had come. Rey must have felt his musing nostalgia because she turned towards him and gave a coy smile.

"So the Resistance," Cale was the first to mention the bantha in the room.

"Cale…" Ben warned.

"No it's alright," Rey said placing her hand on Ben's chest and then turned back to the guards sitting at the table. "I was pulled into this war by a feisty BB unit and an ex-trooper named Finn." She paused long enough to see if Ben would mutter _traitor_ under his breath, but when he didn't she continued. "By acts of the Force, I ended up on the _Falcon_ and had a run in with Han Solo."

A pleasing but sad smile crossed her lips when remembering her short time with Han. "That is how I ended up on Takodana and this big idiot here thought it was a good idea to knock me out with the Force and kidnap me."

"In my defense," Ben chuckled and popped a chocolate into his mouth, "you did shoot first."

Cale snickered, thinking about the fearless girl who pulled her saber on them the first time they met back on Er'Kit. He could imagine her wild eyes and bared teeth as she fired off shots at his Master.

Rey just rolled her eyes at both of them, "It was pure happenstance that I ended up with the Resistance and Ben wasn't too convincing when trying to get me to stay."

"I offered to teach you…"

"You strapped me to a table and then tried to kill my friend."

Ben comically shrugged as if to say that was a normal midweek day for him. "I got you in the end though."

"Almost," Davin cut in. "You are still one of them…"

Rey sighed, "There are good people there, just as there are good people in the Order. They just need a little push towards the Light…towards peace."

"We kept wondering why Ren never ordered an attack on the base," Cale said as he stretched back in his chair. The Knights had been chopping at the bit to get a piece of the action.

"I know one day something will need to be done, but I hope that I can bring Dameron in quietly and that he can have a fair trial."

"Trial," Cale scoffed.

"Yes. If we are looking at justice then none of our hands are clean. I keep telling Ben that something has to be done about Hux as well." Rey said to the group.

"Hux?" Davin asked in surprise.

"He is guilty of genocide. He fired that horrid weapon on the Hosnian system. I would think that Ben would share my judgment, after all, the same was done to Alderaan."

"We are not the sins of our blood," Ben reminded her, but deep down he did agree with her. The galaxy would want to see someone pay for the follies of the First Order. "At this time Hux is not really a concern as he is still drinking his meals through a straw."

Perhaps Rey found what her second mission as Empress would be…brining war criminals to heed.

"Well I think what you are doing is brave," Tyris finally spoke. When all eyes turned to him, he shrugged, "She is putting her neck on the line, living in secret, having to sneak around with the Emperor even when it is clear that they want to be together, and also acting as a double agent. If she was found out, they would put her before a firing squad without a second thought."

Rey squirmed uncomfortably in Ben's lap at the idea of a firing squad and agrees with his thought that she needed to learn to stop blaster bolts. "Thank you, Tyris." She replied simply and then bit at her lip. "And that makes asking this that much harder."

"What is it, Empress?" Davin asked.

She looked from Ben back to the guards. "We need to give the Resistance a win. I need to be able to feed them some intel that will have a good outcome for them. Poe is starting to be suspicious again…not towards me directly but it is bound to come back around."

Ben groaned gruffly and dug his fingers into her thigh as he had an arm around her back and resting on her leg. "Even more reason for you to come home now…"

Arlan eyed her Emperor before turning her gaze to Rey. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well they are running low on medical supplies and that would be considered a good take. So since the Resistance thinks that I am on my way to Antar 4, I can send a comm saying that I saw a New Order medical ship somewhere along the way. It can be stocked with just the basics, presumed to be on a restocking mission to a remote hospital. If I could give good intel against the Order, it would renew Poe's faith in my commitment to the Resistance."

"How long are we going to do this?" Ben sounded exhausted.

"As long as we have to, Ben." She felt his discontent through the bond and she wished with everything in her that she could ease his struggle. She too just wanted it all to be over so they could start their lives together, but total destruction and ion cannons from orbit was not the way to everlasting peace.

"What about the crew?" Arlan asked, having lost friends in past Resistance attacks. "Are we to sacrifice more of our own?"

"I'll go," Cale offered. "Maybe task two other Knights to the mission. We can handle ourselves if it goes south, but we will just surrender and give the ship over without much fight."

"You're really trying to get your Knighthood aren't you?" Arlan asked almost in spite.

Cale smiled, "No offense Ren, but your detail has been kind of boring as of late and I'm itching for some action."

Ben held up his hand in indifference, "We are a volunteer military now and I wouldn't want my Knight to get soft in peace times."

"Really?" Rey asked, surprised that they were considering her plan.

"I can get a ship together and put them in sector N11 by tomorrow evening."

"I will send out the comm in the morning," Rey said wrapping her arms around Ben's neck and planting a kiss to his lips.

"And that's our cue," Cale said as he stood. "With your permission, I will send a comm to Alister and Jix," he spoke to his Master.

Ben just looked at Rey, "It's your mission, Empress. Give your orders."

Rey smiled up at Cale and nodded, "Gather the Knights. Surrender quickly and then take an escape pod. We will send a transport to retrieve you."

Later that night, as Ben and Rey lie in bed, bare and wrapped around each other, Ben inclined his head and kissed the crown of her head. "You are about to get your first taste at ruling…"

She turned her face up to look at him, "What do you mean? I thought that I've been helping you all along."

"You have…you have my love," his eyes were kind but then shifted. "You have been building school and hospitals. You have been feeding the famished and freeing the enslaved. But I have shielded you from the darker side of what it means to rule."

Her brows pulled together and he kissed her forehead, "You ordered a mission that could put lives at risk. People on both sides could die and you have to make peace with that. You are in a position to rule…a position to command and with each order, you need to be able to weigh the risks with the benefits."

"I didn't think about that," Rey said bashfully. Ben had been allowing her to rule with kid gloves, not having to delve into anything that would dim her light with regret and blame.

"Well I will always be there to take some of that burden from you, but if my Knights feel threatened, they will not hesitate to do as their Master has taught them…they will survive. Do you understand?"

Back when Kylo was ruled by Snoke, he was a tool, a weapon to be called upon, and he killed indiscriminately. He could pretend that his conscience was clean and free from fault, he could leave the fallout to the Supreme Leader. But now that he was his own Master, heir apparent, and Emperor of the wide galaxy, he couldn't blame the blood on his hands on another, he too must consider all of the possible outcomes and consequences of his actions. This is perhaps why Ben had not made a move against Hux or Dameron, thinking the ramifications didn't yet match the gain.

Rey nodded into his chest. She knew that the barely trained Resistance fighters weren't a match to the skill of the Knights of Ren. They would surround and board the freighter thinking that they were going up against normal transport pilots, not seasoned warriors.

Quickly in her mind, she thought about the cost versus benefit of the mission. The Resistance desperately needed medical supplies and hopefully, the veteran Knights could use the Force if needed to deescalate any unpleasant situation that may come about. She also needed Poe to continue to trust her if she was going to succeed in her own personal mission to bring an end to this war.

Selfishly she wanted to curl herself up next to Ben every night and the longer it took her to bring Poe to his senses, the longer she had to put her own life and happiness on hold. As Ben lovingly stroked at her back and she inhaled his dark scent, she wanted her life with him to start as soon as possible.

* * *

 **AN: A little longer part for you because you all make my heart so happy. I think it will take me two more parts to finish their time on Coruscant. It's taking me about two days to write each part and I hoped to have this story finished by Halloween but I don't see that happening. I think we are pushing more towards 30 parts in the end. (Future me still laughing...40 glorious chapters!)**

 **Thank you for coming along for the ride with our loving couple. Your comments and reviews are always so appreciated.**


	20. Part XX

**Part XX**

Rey's anxiety was only calmed by Ben's strong arms around her that night. She kept second guessing her plan, running through each scenario, and early into the morning she started to reach out to the Cosmic Force, seeking the future.

"Don't," Ben muffled into the hair at the back of her neck. Her busy mind had kept him up for hours and while he wished to lessen her burden, he also knew that she needed to be able to do this herself. But using their connection to the Force was not always going to be the answer. She needed to learn to trust herself first and foremost.

Rey huffed in frustration and flopped her body around on the bed dramatically. Ben just raised his arm to allow her room to physically express her irritation. "We can still call off the mission. I'm sure the ship hasn't even left port yet."

"No," she whined. "I'm just worried about Cale and the Knights and also who ever Poe will send out." Rey almost wished that Finn wasn't on his honeymoon and was going on the mission. She knew that he could keep a level head, now that he had something special to come home to.

Feeling as if she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, Rey pushed out of the bed and padded to the fresher. As she flipped on the light, she sucked in a breath. Sometime in the night Ben had set her personal items out on her side of the vanity. But what really drew her attention was the old silver hair brush that had once belonged to his mother.

She crossed the room and picked up the brush, turning it between her fingers, watching the light shine off the design that was carved into the rare metal. It has been cleaned and polished since she had left it with him on Mygeeto and she ran her fingers lovingly over the bristles.

Shifting around in her toiletry bag, she pulled out the bottle of white pills. As she shook one out into her palm and turned on the tap, Ben stuck his head into the fresher. She caught just a hint on a frown on his lips when he eyed the tablet, but he neutralized his expression before speaking, "You want some caf?"

"Please," she answered. He didn't move for a long moment, watching her place the pill in her mouth and take a swig of water from the sink. "Not yet," Rey offered as she felt his disappointment through the bond.

He just nodded once before moving back through the bedroom and out into the living area of the apartment. In the kitchen he pulled out a bag of grinds from his home world and set a pot to brew. He could still feel her worry through the thread that connected them and he rolled his shoulders before sending out feelings of relaxation and confidence.

Pouring the deep and aromatic brew into two cups, he turned at the sound of tiny feet against a polished floor. Rey had a woven throw from the base of their bed wrapped around her body. He handed her a cup and then took his own, making his way towards the terrace doors.

He sat down in oversized lounger and held out his arm as an invitation for her to join him. Carefully she settled across his right thigh and snuggled into his side. The city world was uncharacteristically quiet in the early morning hour and they watched as the sky just started to be colored with a haze of purple from the rising sun.

"Everything will be alright. Alister and Jix know what they are doing and they will keep Cale in line."

"It's not them I'm really worried about," Rey said honestly. When she had access to Ben's mind, she had seen the training that Snoke had put the Knights through and they were able to embody restraint, but the desperate and blood thirsty Resistance were a different story. They didn't care if the pilots were civilians or had families of their own. They wouldn't care that the medical supplies could have been slated to provide assistance to a dying world. The Resistance was a relic that was just trying to survive by bending morals and scrapping at any victory. Rey wondered for a moment what Leia would think of her band of rebels now.

Ben kissed at her temple as the sky started to shift from purple to pink, "I'll instruct Jix to wash the Resistance fighters with feelings of calm as soon as they board. He's our strongest empath and you wouldn't believe how many battles he has won without drawing a drop of blood."

Rey shifted on his lap so she could press her lips to his, "Thank you for trusting me, Ben."

He returned the kiss in kind, "I trust you with our empire. I trust you with my life. I trust you with my heart."

She smiled against his lips, "I will serve our empire. I will protect your life. I will cherish your heart."

They sat together, sipping caf and sharing simple kisses until the sun started to crest from between the other towers around them.

"When do you want to make the call?" Ben asked into the soft skin just behind her ear.

She hummed under the influence of his attentive lips, "Soon, I think. They will have to scramble the fighters and the trip from Dantooine to N11 will take them half the day."

He took her mug and set it on the ground next to his before he started to nudge her from her cocooned spot at his side. "I'm sure Dameron wouldn't take to kindly to receiving a holo with you just wrapped in a bed sheet."

"I don't think he would mind," she said in a cheeky tone. Having spent more time combing through Poe's thoughts, she had on more than one occasion caught him thinking about her in a less than platonic manner.

Rey's thoughts were loud again and he groaned, "I don't need to be privy to all of Dameron's fantasies about what is mine."

"Then maybe you should stay out of my head," she called over her shoulder as she trotted back into the apartment.

Ben tipped back his head, laying it on the back of the chair and looked up at the now pale blue sky. He wasn't naive to the fact that other men would be attracted to Rey, she practically radiated Light and beauty, but he would never be pleased with the fact that Dameron coveted what was, perhaps from birth, destined to be his.

Rey quickly dressed in her usual tunic and vest and pulled her hair back into a simple bun at the base of her neck. Ben joined her and also dressed in a relaxed tunic and pants. They walked together out of the apartment and then took the lift up to the landing pad where the MK3 Command Shuttle and her transport were located.

He sat in the co-pilot's seat, just outside the frame of the holocomm system. Rey adjusted the transmitter, making sure that not too much of the city behind her showed through the side view screens.

"Ready?" Ben asked.

She nodded, fiddled with her hair for a moment then let out a deep breath before throwing a switch that would hale the comm link.

A few seconds later a woman's face appeared, "Access code?"

"750-ZA-3," Rey listed off her personal comm number.

"Go ahead, Rey." The comm station was mostly manned by a young woman named Eirta Jiktar who had joined the Resistance shortly after they settled on Dantooine.

"I need to speak with the General. It's important and time sensitive."

"Hold the line," Eirta replied and the feed went blank, but still displayed a greenish hue to the projector.

After about a minute she started to fear that he was already out on a mission and that she had missed her chance, but then the comm beeped and Poe's face appeared. "Rey…what's wrong? Did your ship malfunction?" Then his eyes went wide with horror, "Did Ren get you?

Ben had to bite the heel of his hand to suppress his laugh, but Rey was ever focused, not even shifting her gaze his way. "No…no, nothing like that. But I have some intel that I think you will be interested in."

When Poe just nodded she laid out her plan, "I dropped Finn and Rose off on Coruscant and then on my way to Antar, I stopped on Corellia…"

"Corellia? Why would you stop there? It's crawling with the First Order."

Rey just shrugged, "I'm a woman…I wanted to go shopping for a new pair of boots." And she made it even more believable by flashing him a girlish smile.

Poe scoffed but also had a playful pull to his lips, "What did you find on Corellia?"

"There was a freighter docked a few slots from my transport and I over heard them talking about hauling medical supplies for the New Order and I know that our med bay is in desperate need of restocking."

Poe's eyes lit up, "Please tell me you used your little Jedi tricks to find out where they were going."

Now Ben rolled his eyes, only someone completely ignorant of the Force would call what they did ' _little tricks_ ', but he kept to himself, watching his Empress spin her web.

"They are headed to Lexrul in Q10. The Nanth'ri Route is bogged down so they are going to go through open space in N11 and link back up to the Ootmian Pabol lanes at Chanosant."

"What do you think?" Poe asked someone off screen and the light voice of Kaydel could be heard agreeing to the plan. "What kind of crew are they using? Any TIE escorts like they have been doing with the food shipments?"

Rey's chest slightly swelled at the mention of the TIE escorts. Ben had taken her suggestion and since the start of her assistance program, ten worlds had been brought back from the brink of famine. "A crew of three, none of them in uniform. I think they are just contracted freighters. No TIEs in sight."

Poe looked off screen again and then smiled. "We are going to get a team together and go after them. This is just the break that we needed. Keep this up Rey and we might get you out of the hangar pit and send you on more recon missions."

Rey smiled like the complement wasn't laced with a backhanded jab. "Thanks Poe!" Then she bit at her lower lip for a moment. "Tell the guys to go easy on the crew. They are just like so many others out there, just trying to get by and support their families."

"Always so light-hearted," Poe said with a mocking laugh. Even with all of the power of the Force behind her, Poe often saw her as weak due to her disinterest in taking up arms with the rest of them.

She blushed, more out of anger than embarrassment, but she continued to smile like Poe wasn't completely demeaning her. "Oh and sweetheart, be careful out there. Wouldn't want Ren to snap you up, carry you back to his lair, and strap you to a table again." He flashed her a signature Dameron smile and winked at her.

Rey gritted her teeth, "Thanks, General. I'll check in tomorrow when I get to Antar to see how the mission went."

She shut off the comm before Poe could answer and she growled out in frustration. Ben puffed out the breath he had been holding, "Tell me again why I can't just kill him?"

Putting her face in her hands Rey just shook her head, "Because of justice or something like that…"

To her surprise, Ben actually snorted out a laugh and she peeked up at him through her fingers. She watched him stand from the seat and reach for her, letting out a squeal as he lifted her easily and threw her over his shoulder.

"Now that I have snapped you up, I am going to take you to my lair and," he slapped at her bottom as they exited the shuttle and paused thoughtfully, "I don't have an interrogation table in the apartment, but we can make do."

She giggled all the way back into their home and Ben walked them into his office, spreading her out before him. "I've dreamed about taking you on this desk…" he whispered into her neck as he placed sucking kisses upon her soft skin.

Pulling at the ties of her wrap tunic, he opened her like the gift she was. "I have freed worlds from this desk. Abolished cartels…" he kissed down between her breasts. "Liberated the trooper and shut down child labor camps…" he pulled down her leggings and hooked his fingers into her boots to shed her lower half completely bare. "And now I will have my Empress on the very surface that has seen the shaping of our galaxy."

He firmly planted his lips between her thighs, foregoing any light touches or playful teasing, he sucked at her clit with the vigor of an Emperor set ablaze. She bowed off the hard surface to the point that just her rear and shoulders were grounding her. One of her heels was hanging on the edge of the desk as the other foot was planted on his shoulder, her toes curled with absolute pleasure.

Ben worked Rey with his mouth and fingers until she was panting, scratching her nails into the varnish of the hardwood top, swearing in basic, and begging him not to stop. With a few more rolls of his wrist and flat tongued passes over her bud, she was crashing around him and her body jerked as he continued to rub the pads of his middle and ring fingers against the front wall of her core. His thumb made lazy circles around her clit as he looked down upon her flushed and sated from.

Lastly, he gathered her pleasure limp body in his arms and carried her across their home, laying her out across their still unmade bed and commenced to make slow and tender love to her.

When they both lay together and Rey's lids blinked slowly with pure bliss and satisfaction, Ben ran his large hand down her bare torso, "I want to show you something…"

She hummed as his fingers danced across her toned stomach. "Does it involved clothes?"

"Since we are leaving the apartment, I would think so." He smiled into her shoulder and placed a kiss upon it.

Rey groaned in a teasing manner and rolled over on top of him, pushing his hair back out of his face and touching her lips to his. "It better be worth it."

"I think it will be," he answers before grabbing her rear and sitting up in bed, shifting a few times and then standing while carrying her to the fresher with her legs wrapped around his hips.

They showered quickly and then both stood in front of their clothes. "Wear a dress," he offered.

"Why?" Rey asked back, not in offense but in curiosity.

"If we are spotted, I am to say that you are a visiting dignitary and dressing the part would make the charade more believable."

Rey nodded and looked back to the line of gowns hanging before her. She bit her lip and shifted on her feet before she felt Ben come up behind her.

He reached for a cream-colored floor length dress that was made of a soft but heavy cotton. It had a boxed neckline and would leave her arms bare. The dress was slightly tailored in the bodice but was cut to drape elegantly off her hips. "This one." He could feel her embarrassment over not knowing what type of dress would be appropriate, but he was also too proud to admit that he knew more than he should about women's fashion.

She slid on a pair of panties before stepping into the dress and Ben pulled the zipper up at the back, placing a simple kiss where her neck met her shoulder. He dressed quickly in his black uniform, sans the helmet. He had shown his face to the galaxy and even though the black and chrome helmet was more recognizable, he felt that if not in battle, he didn't see a need to continue to conceal his identity.

After Rey fixed her hair into a neater bun, she did a twirl for Ben. "Now that's a dress," he smirked remembering the pink monstrosity she wore for Rose's wedding.

"Yes," Rey said, looking down at herself and running her hands over the cool material as it flowed over her hips and rear. "I could get used to this."

"One more thing," Ben reached back into the closet and pulled out a red velvet cloak. It had long sleeves and slightly longer in the back, creating a small train. It also had a oversized hood that would effectively hide her face from any prying eyes. It had a darker pattern that curled like delicate vines across the material and Rey wasn't sure if she had ever seen anything so fine.

"I thought you said I should dress like a dignitary," she fingered the smooth fabric, "not like an Empress."

Ben chuckled, "This is actually similar to what the handmaidens to the Queen of Naboo wear."

Her eyes went large again, "If this is what servants wear, I'm almost scared to know how the Queen herself is dressed."

"Naboo is very rooted in tradition and the fashion for the Queen have not changed much since my grandmother's time on the throne." He held out the cloak and allowed her to slip her slender arms in as he pulled it up around her shoulders. "But you, my Empress," he kissed her nose as he fastened the broach at her throat, "will dull every star in the galaxy, no matter what you wear."

Sometimes Rey wanted to melt at his words. She had never been so cherished in her entire existence. She had never felt so needed…desired…but also completely respected and trusted. She doubted that any other soul could make her feel as Ben could. So she grabbed at his surcoat and pulled him in for a searing kiss.

Once they parted, Ben held out his hand, calling her saberstaff from the table at her side of the bed, and it landed soundly in his palm. Pulling back the right side of her cloak, he slid it into a long slender pocket perfectly concealed within the billowing fabric.

Next, he called to his own saber and clipped it to the belt that sat around his waist. When he held out his hand again, it was for his love to take, as he wished she did all these many months ago on the _Supremacy_ , but as her warm palm slid against the cool leather of his gloved hand, he was pleased none the less.

They took the elevator back up towards the landing pad, but got off on the floor just under the tarmac and entered a small hangar. Ben approached a sleek looking black XJ-6 Airspeeder and after drawing a formation on the touch-sensitive glass of the pilot's side, the top lifted and exposed the two-person cabin.

He held out a finger to tell Rey to wait, but she was too distracted by looking at the massive twin engines that sat at the rear of the craft. Ben tilted his head to the side, smiling and watched his woman, dressed like an Empress and prattling on about revolutions per second and turbo thrusters.

Rey looked up and saw the blissfully happy look on Ben's face and stood up straight, "What?" She asked with her own smile.

Rounding the speeder to come before her, he cupped her cheek, "Just you…there was never anyone so perfectly made for me but you." He kissed her softly before sweeping her up in his arms.

"I _can_ walk, Ben." She chucked and then felt him lower her into the passenger's seat of the speeder.

"I know," he smirked and kissed her while leaning down to be on her level. "I just didn't want you to rip that beautiful dress."

Just then noticing the three-foot drop to the ground she would have most likely had to ask him for help getting into the craft. So she blushed at feeling his warm breath across her cheeks, "Thank you."

"Any time my love," Ben ran his thumb along her bottom lip before moving to the other side of the speeder and gracefully hopping into the pilot's seat. With a swipe of his hand, the dark tinted glass dome came down over their heads and sealed. The craft was rated for higher atmosphere flights and could almost rival an Old Empire TIE with it's speed and maneuverability.

Flipping a few switched and pushing a button on the console, the twin engines roared to life. "If I didn't know any better, I would think you were compensating for something," Rey repeated the words that she had heard leave Poe's mouth just a few months prior.

The Solo smirk came out, "But you do know better and I don't remember hearing you complaining about my…compensation." He glanced down to his crotch before lifting his heated gaze back up to her.

Her face was flushed, pupils dilated, and she bit at her lip. Her mind was fuzzy and even though he had fully satisfied her just an hour before, she rubbed her thighs together and responded with a very unladylike groan.

He outright laughed at her and then took the speeder's steering wheel in his large hands, pressing the ship forward and towards a door that was opening, exposing the mid day light to the otherwise dim hanger.

The city was bustling and Ben easily merged into an airlane. Rey's face was practically glue to the windows as she tried to take in all of the sights from the elevated position. There were more high rises like the one their apartment was in and then the space opened little and the old Senate building came into view.

The space that it occupied was massive, "Why did they need such a large building?" Rey asked as they continued to fly over it.

Ben scoffed, "They build it on the lateral plane because it was thought that if it was built vertically it would be considered giving preferential status to those with officers on higher floors."

Rey looked back at him and pulled a face, "They took up all that space just because of pride and hurt feelings?"

He nodded and chuckled, "My mother wrote about it in her journal, at times having to walk over a mile to get to a Senator's office for meetings." His tone and gaze turned serious, "Do you see why it had to end? Why I had to destroy it?"

"I never doubted you, Ben." Rey wasn't quite sure why he was still asking for validation in his decision to disband the New Republic Senate, but from what she had learned over the past year, she sometimes wished that she was at his side when the great ruse of a government fell.

So she just reached over and took his hand that was resting on the console between them and pulled it up to her lips, placing a lingering kiss upon the knuckles of his right hand. The same knuckles that had split during the battle at the Senate. The same knuckles that she had bandaged with care even before she knew she loved him. Rey was still amazed that the same hands that were so gentle on her skin, that pulled at her light, and brought her so much love and pleasure, were the same hands that overthrew a galactic government, drew blood, and ended life.

She kissed his knuckles again, pouring love and understanding…acceptance through the bond. His shoulders visibly relaxed and he continued to allow her to hold his hand, now down in her lap, as they flew on through the Federal District.

Soon they came upon a massive building that stood tall above the surrounding city like a mountain. Ben took the speeder in a large sweeping circle around it, allowing Rey to see it from all sides.

"If anyone was compensating for anything…it was who ever built this. There is no reason to take up this much space." Rey's brows were pinched together in concerns for the wasteful people of this world but her attention was drawn away from the window when she heard Ben's barking laugh. "What?" She asked, slightly hurt that he would find her serious thoughts amusing.

The smile on his face was knowing and he could feel her irritation rolling off her in waves, "I'm not laughing at you, my love. I'm laughing at our forefathers." When her brows just pinch further together he continued. "The Jedi built this…"

Her brows stayed pinched, now in consideration and not annoyance and she looked back out over the structure. "A bit ostentatious, don't you think?"

"Very," Ben agreed as he rounded the building once more and then dropped down to street level where he alined the speeder with a hanger door that opened under a wave of his hand.

The power of the place hit Rey like a bucket of cold water to the face and she sucked in a deep breath as her eyes slid closed. Reaching out, she opened herself to the power and let the Force flow through her.

Ben parked the speeder and quickly jumped out of his seat, rounding the craft to come to Rey's side. Her eyes were still closed and her expression was knitted together as if in deep concentration. "Darling," Ben offered gently as he ran his finger tips along her cheek.

Rey cupped his hand to her face, feeling grounded again, and looked up at him, "The Darkness…" Her gaze was a mix of concern and wonderment.

"There has always been two sides of the Force, Rey," he said simply as he took her right hand and helped her stand up in the speeder. Begrudgingly, he pulled his hand away from her warm face and wrapped his strong fingers around her waist and lifted her easily.

Before setting her back down on her feet, he pulled her in close to his body, now snaking his arms around her slim waist. He rested his forehead against hers and he too connected on the power that flowed through the ancient building. Rey reached up and placed her hand upon the scar on the right side of his face and sighed, dipping into the Force with him.

For the first time in her life, Rey felt completely balanced. She stood firmly in the space between the Dark and the Light, pulling at passion and peace, strength and serenity, finding harmony in the power around her, and order and purpose within the bond. She felt the Force, the pure unmolested, balanced Force.

Ben rubbed his forehead against hers as if the slight motion would further and deepen the connection of their minds. The sound that escaped him was a groan of relief. "I feel it too," his tone was tight as if a lifelong pain was being healed.

This connection…their connection through the Force was beyond any physical coming together. While being intimate with Rey was otherworldly, nothing could compare to her Light, her essence in the Force, and he soaked it into every cell of his body as black and white swirled to create a perfect shade of gray.

"My beautifully gray Empress," he said just above a whisper.

* * *

 **AN: Happy Saturday everyone! Part 21 has been sent to my Muse for review and I hope to have it up for you soon, but let me know what you think about our couple in this part. I really enjoy doing research for this story, but I do pull from Canon and Legends throughout.**


	21. Part XXI

**Part XXI**

Surfacing out of the Force was like when Rey took her first gasping breath after falling into the dark water on Ahch-To. Both of their chests were heaving against the other and slowly Ben lowered her to her feet. "Come," he said simply, needing to move before the Darkness of this place pulled him back under.

Taking Ben's outstretched hand, Rey followed behind him. "If this is a Jedi Temple, why is the darkness so strong?"

"It wasn't always a Jedi Temple," he said without turning his head as they started to walk up some stairs. "This is sacred ground and the two sides of the Force have been fighting over it for eons.

"The Jedi would build and the Sith would tear it down, putting up their own monuments. Pieces were left behind, dark relics buried deep inside of the mountain that this place rests upon. But not all of the darkness came from the Sith."

"What do you mean?" They had come upon a mezzanine that stretched the length of the temple's ziggurat base.

"I told you before, and Luke even agreed, that the Jedi Order had to end. They were corrupt with power and involving themselves too deeply in government. I've always wondered what was worse…darkness disguised as righteousness by the Jedi, or blatant dark deeds at the hands of the Sith."

Rey knew his question was not one that needed to be answered and they approached a set of golden doors and Ben pushed a button, causing the doors to open and they stepped onto a lift. "There are five spires," he informed as the lift seemed to be ascending forever. "We are in the center spire…and this," the doors opened, "is the Jedi Council Chamber."

The room was round, wide windowed gave a three-hundred and sixty-degree view of the surrounding city. Rey crossed the dusty room, seeing that inlaid into the floor was a dark brown circle with what looked like golden sun rays coming off it. Around the room were seats…thrones of different shapes and sizes.

"Anakin stood in that exact spot," Ben said, still lingering by the lift doors. "He was judged by the Council, they were unsure if he was the _Chosen One_ and if he should be trained as a Jedi. I've been wondering what would have come of the Skywalker's if the Council had said no.

"If Obi-Wan hadn't stepped up to mentor my grandfather, Anakin would have never met Padmé, they would have never fallen in love, married in secret. They would have never had Luke and Leia. No me…and possibly no you." He was convinced that the Cosmic Force brought Rey about when he started to shift towards the darkness, even at age nine, Snoke was already paving Ben's path to the Darkside.

Rey reached out her hand, wordless asking him to join her at the center of the room. Thankfully he removed his gloves on the way and slid his warm hand into hers. "But he was trained, and he did meet Padmé," she placed her hands on his chest, "and they did fall in love and make two amazing…if not misguided children."

He wrapped his arms around her middle, resting his clutched hands at the small of her back and she spoke again, "And the Force brought about you and the Force brought about me. And the Force brought us together, as it was always fated to be."

They were both quiet for a long time, holding on to each other and listening to…feeling the Force, but it was Ben who broke the silence, "My grandfather was part of Order 66, Palpatine's plan to rid the galaxy of Jedi…Anakin…he killed younglings with little more than training sabers to protect themselves."

Ben had his chin resting on the top of Rey's head as she buried her face in the thick fabric of his surcoat, "When Luke tried to kill me, when I pulled the hut down upon him, it set about a course of destructions Snoke was in my head, praising me and prodding me along. I gave them a choice to follow me…to let Luke's flawed ideas die with him and start a new Order of Force users. Seven joined me, the rest…Snoke ordered their deaths and just like my grandfather, I wielded my saber against younglings."

Rey gripped at the back of his coat harder and silent tears escaped her eyes and bled into the fabric on his chest.

"I was so scared, so ashamed, but I was also so angry, and the hate that filled me tampered down the Light that was trying to stay ablaze within me." His voice became thick and a few tears ran down his face.

"We are all capable of doing the unimaginable when we are desperate enough," Rey offered with a sniffle as she looked up at him.

His gaze was still forward, lit by the afternoon sun streaming through the windows, he couldn't look down at her, feeling her pity through the bond was enough. "That is why I have to do better. I have to be better than Anakin, than Luke, than my mother and father. I have to be more just than Palpatine and Snoke. I can't be ruled by Darkness and I refuse to let my hands be sullied with any more innocent blood."

As much as Rey felt a purpose with the Resistance, to bring a peaceful end to the war, she had also been a part of settling the internal conflict of Kylo Ren and Ben Solo. Each day he became more and more like the man the Force had shown her of their future. Each day she loved him anew and with a greater intensity.

"We are not the sins of our family," she reminded him in a soft voice.

Ben just gripped her tighter in reply, and while he knew that he couldn't account himself to the past digression of Anakin, his uncle, or his parents, he had also spilled the blood of younglings, one no older than eight, and his soul had relished in the powerful darkness that had overwhelmed him at the time.

Since becoming closer with Rey he had lain awake many nights thinking about his sins. He thought about his own child, his and Rey's child, being cut down by a dark force, and the fear would give him the sweats and he would feel the lost souls of those he had ended. He doubted his worth as a father, questioning if he even deserved to feel the joy of a little hand wrap around his large fingers. How could the Force allow his spawn to exist when he had shown such disregard for life in the past?

These weren't fears that he ever verbalized with Rey, but he knew that she felt his hesitation through the bond. While he dreamed…almost willing to hope to see Rey one day full with their child, he also feared his dark legacy and corruption of his damaged soul.

They released each other soon after and took the lift back down to the main ziggurat, wandering the halls and training quarters. "So what will you do with this place?" Rey asked as they walked through the Room of a Thousand Fountains, a large greenhouse area at the center of the Temple that was lush with overgrown flora.

"I'm not sure," Ben mused, climbing over a rocky structure. "I don't want to level it, for it still holds great power within the Force. Perhaps a new training center, allowing those who are Force sensitive to come out of hiding and be taught about the gray area that their Emperor and Empress exist and flourish in."

Rey thought for a long moment and then smiled, "I like that idea."

Ben chuckled to himself, "Who would have thought that the infamous Jedi Killer would open an academy."

Stopping her forward movement, Ben had to bow his body around hers to not knock into the back of her. Rounding in a swirl of red cloak, Rey gave him a hard look, "You have to forgive yourself for your past."

Staggering on his feet, Ben righted himself but gave her a sour look.

"You are not that person any more. Like your grandfather, you were under the influence of an evil man." She placed her hand on his chest, "I know your heart Ben and it tells me that you don't want to hurt people. Your heart still bleeds for what happened at the academy and that shows that you regret your actions. It shows you have empathy and that you're not a monster."

Ben felt the lump in his throat swell, "I don't want you…our children, to be scared of me, to be ashamed of me."

Rey saw the lost boy inside of the hulking man standing before her. The boy who was starving for love and for the family that he felt was denied him, stared upon her with sad deep eyes. "I love you and our children will love you. Trust in me and trust in the Force," her voice was kind and sure.

He pressed his lips together, contemplating her words but not fully believing them. He feared being a father like Vader, so cloaked in darkness that he didn't even recognize the familial bond to Luke, or like Han, too busy being the hero in everyone else's worlds that he forgot about the son who was his biggest fan. Snoke had even tried to call Kylo ' _son_ ', mostly after an agonizing punishment and Ben shivered at the thought of ever treating his own offspring in such a way.

But he would do as Rey said. He would put his trust in her and in the Force. Ben was created for Rey and she for him. The Force doesn't make mistakes. The future they had was not one of pain and disappointment. He had to believe that one day he would have the vision that was dangled before him.

So he sighed and relaxed his shoulders, allowing the power around him to once more flow through every atom of his form. After a quick pause, his body went rigid again and he looked up at Rey, "It's started…"

Confused, Rey asked, "What's started?"

"The mission."

"How do you know?"

Ben reached out his hand and Rey readily took it as they started to walk back out of the garden towards another one of the Temple's large halls. "Alister and Jix were at the academy with me. We have trained together for over a decade and there is a bond between Master and Knight."

"Like our bond?" Rey asked.

"No, what we have is more than what has ever been documented about Force bonds, but I can get small glimpses from them, slight feelings, messages of the sort."

"How is it going?"

Ben smiled, "It's not that detailed, but we should head back to the apartment and await their report."

Rey agreed and they headed back down to the speeder. The ride back across town was uneventful and they were soon again in the enclosed hangar and taking the elevator down to their apartment.

Ben helped her out of her cloak and dress and thought about taking her, but she was too keyed up and would most likely find it insensitive to have sex while her friends on both sides were in danger. It also didn't help that she took his discarded tunic and slid it on over her only panty clad body. "Your smell calms me," she said offhandedly as she paced into the fresher.

He just chuckled and shook his head before leaving the sleeping quarters and walking across the apartment to his office, surely there were dozens of memos awaiting his attention since Rey's impromptu arrival.

Perhaps fifteen minutes later he was alarmed by a crashing sound from the kitchen and he quickly made his way out of his office to investigate. He ended up leaning up against the corner of two walls, looking at his Empress standing on the bench top rummaging through the upper cabinets. "What are you doing, sweetheart?"

Rey wasn't startled by his voice, of course, she knew he was there, "Looking for a mixing bowl."

Pushing off his leaning spot, Ben walked into the kitchen and opened a door and pulled down a stainless steel bowl, holding it out to her. "What do you need a mixing bowl for?"

With the ease of a minx, she jumped off the counter top and onto the floor, taking the bowl from his hand. "Rose told me once that when her mother was stressed she would bake."

Now Ben leaned his rear against the bench top, crossing his legs at the ankle and folding his arms across his chest with an amused looked on his face, "So you are going to bake…"

"Yes," Rey said, going though the shelves again looking for the ingredients that her datapad displayed.

Ben held out his hand and a container of sugar flew out of a cabinet into his waiting palm. "Have you ever baked before?"

Rey used her own powers to pull the sugar out of his hand, "I made your birthday cake, or have you already forgotten?"

"I remember…but rehydrating something from a ration pack is different than baking from scratch."

The tension was rolling off Rey in waves and Ben's snark was not helping, "Not all of us had mothers to learn this kind of thing from and I'm perfectly capable of following instructions."

"It's called a recipe…"

A measuring cup came flying across the kitchen and just as he had dodged the saber in Snoke's throne room, Ben just shifted his head to the left as the cup whizzing past his ear. "It's called get the kriff out of my kitchen," Rey shot back.

Ben chucked again, holding up his hands in surrender as he retreated back to his office. That was possibly their first fight as a couple and Ben thought she was absolutely adorable.

Rey used the Force and called the measuring cup back to her hand with an angry huff before staring to scoop sugar into the mixing bowl. She knew she was acting irrational and taking her stress and frustration out on Ben, but his teasing didn't help.

Twenty minutes later she threw open the doors to his office and stormed in, moving to the couch by the lit fire and flopping down with an attention-getting sigh.

Sitting in his chair with his feet propped up on the deck, Ben just moved his gaze from the datapad in his hands to where he saw her feet sticking up over the armrest of the couch. "Done already?"

She sighed again, "There are two pans of brownies in the oven."

Her tone was more relaxed and he turned off his tablet before standing and walking over to the small sitting area, going down onto his knees by the couch. "Do you feel any better?"

The arm that was laid across her face came away with a lackluster jerk and her rolled her head to the side to look at his still slightly smug, slightly concerned expression. "Not really…maybe baking isn't my thing."

A smirk grew on his full lips, "Sabers or sex?"

Rey couldn't help herself at this point and let out a hardy laugh as he suggestively raised his eyebrows at her. "The brownies will be done in twenty minutes and I don't want them to burn."

"So sex," Ben said as he grabber her left arm and leg, dragging her off the couch and onto the plush carpet.

"Ben!" She giggled.

He was already pushing the large tunic up her body, "What?"

"When have we ever been able to finish in less than twenty minutes?" She continued to laugh as he dragged his shirt off over his head.

He rid her of the white panties she was wearing and threw them haphazardly over his shoulder. "That sounds like a challenge," and he ran his thick fingers down her already slick folds.

Now her eyes burned just as hot as the fire that raged beside them and she pulled a wicked smile, pushing herself up off the floor and making him collapse on his back. She pulled at the training pants he put on after returning home and his erection sprang free, hitting his toned stomach with a heavy slap.

Rey climbed on to his lap and had his hard cock sheathed fully within seconds. She groaned not only at the slight pain of adjusting to his size but also the sheer pleasure of being joined with him.

She rolled her hips slowly at first as he cupped her breasts in his palms and swept his finger tips across her pebbling nipples like a blind man reading braille. As her body adjusted, stretching and becoming slick with her arousal, Rey started to ride him with more vigor, rubbing her clit on his pelvic bone with each up stroke.

Ben could feel his tip flicking the spot deep inside of her that makes her eyes roll back as her fingers dug into his pecks. She as grabbing at his skin, trying to bear down on him harder, so he wrapped his large hand at the base of her throat, pushing down on her collar bones, as he used his other hand to guide her hips at her frantic pace.

Head thrown back, crying out yips of pleasure with each pull of his hand, Rey could feel her orgasm building. "Ben…oh, Gods…I'm gonna…oh…fuc…" and her walls clamped down hard on him as her mouth fell open in a breathless gasp.

"Fuck," he finished her sentiment and added through gritted teeth, "you're so tight." As she fell forwards on to his chest, her body finally starting to spasm, he gripped both of her hips, dug his heels into the carpet, and thrust up into her as quickly as his body would allow him.

From an outsider, it may have sounded as if Rey was being tortured, grunting and screaming as if her mind was being ripped into, but as Ben placed heated kisses to her shoulder and moaned into the crook of her neck, she basked in the sweet torment.

A few more jerking thrusts up into her pulsing and slick heat had Ben joining her in bliss. Her body went limp on top of his and Rey wondered if she had orgasmed through his entire go at her. It had felt as if it stretched on forever as he continued to rub the spots that made her mind melt.

As they lay, chests heaving and sweat-soaked against each other, Ben heard a faint beeping from the next room and chuckled. "Your brownies are done."

Rey just groaned, not trusting her own legs to stand. So Ben just kissed at her temple and rolled her off of him, hopping up, slipping on his pants and happily jogging towards the kitchen. All she could do was stretch out on her back, legs, and arms falling where they may as she tried to regain control of her extremities.

She closed her eyes and just listened to the crackle of the fire for a long few minutes before Ben came back in, placing a lingering kiss on her lips before sitting on the floor and propping his back up against the couch. "You taste like chocolate…" she accused, turning her head to the side to look at him.

"You're pretty good at the whole baking thing," he replied, shamelessly licking at his fingers.

"You stole some of my brownies," she said in jest. "Those are for the guards and the Knights when they get back."

Ben had to laugh at the thought of his fearsome Knights sitting around the table being served brownies by mama-hen Rey. "Well we can't make sweets an everyday affair," he poked at his bare abdomen that was just tight cream colored skin stretched over toned muscle. "Wouldn't want your Emperor to get out of shape."

A sparkle set in Rey's eyes, "I know other ways to keep your figure…"

"Oh," he played along.

Finally feeling back in command of her body, Rey sat up on her knees and crawled over to him, kissing his chocolate tinged lips, "Yes…" she kissed him again. "Sabers," she whispered against his lips before she sprung to her feet and raced from the office towards the bedroom to put on training clothes and collect her weapon.

Ben was quick on her heels but took a few more large strides when he heard her scream.

When he came upon the living room he had to hold back a laugh. His stark naked Empress was crouched behind one of the sofas while Davin stood by the front door, looking up at the ceiling and his skin was about as red as a Corellian apple.

Davin's gaze shifted for only a moment when he saw Ren enter the room, "Apologies Emperor, but there has been news from Jix."

Ben pulled a throw blanket off the back of one of the sofas and wrapped it around Rey's shoulders giving her some modesty. "I think you should be apologizing to the Empress," his tone was light as he felt worse for his poor guard for the embarrassment of the situation.

Now wrapped in a blanket, Rey stepped out beside Ben and Davin faced them both, bowing at the waist, "I am sorry for the intrusion Empress. We are not used to Ren… _entertaining_."

Rey almost wanted to laugh, Davin was the human embodiment of 3PO, and this was perhaps the most awkward moment of his life. "I'm glad to hear that the Emperor doesn't often have naked women running across our home." She looked up at Ben with a smirk and almost felt bad as Davin turned red again. "But what is the news from the mission?"

"Only that they are alive and are headed back to the city, but Cale had to be taken to the med bay."

Covering her mouth with her hand, Rey sucked in a breath. This is what she had been most worried about and she knew that the Knights were instructed to not instigate violence, which meant that Poe had disregarded her request for a civil takeover. "Do we know his condition?"

"No, ma'am. Just that he is alive and being tended to."

"Thank you," Ben said in a dismissive tone. The guard bowed and started for the door before Ben called out again, "Oh and Davin, when the Empress is in residence, please ring the comm and wait to be let in."

"Yes, sir," Davin said with one final bow and blush as he exited the apartment.

There was a long quiet pause in the apartment and Ben wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pressing his lips to the top of her head, "Are you alright?"

Rey knew that he wasn't asking about the mishap of Davin seeing her naked, but rather the report from the mission. She didn't know how to answer, not really sure how she was feeling about it, but her Ben knew what to do and just held her tighter.

"I sent a trauma team on the retrieval ship just incase something like this happened."

Her eyes were tear brimmed as they looked up at him, "What if he is so wounded that he can't serve on your guard or no longer train as a Knight?" Her express was one of horror at the thought of being the cause of dashing someone else's dreams. "I shouldn't have allowed him to go…he wasn't ready…"

Ben shushed her, bushed the hair back from her head, "I have the best team working on him and Luke and Vader were able to still train with prosthetics if it comes to that. He would have been insulted if you held him back, he wanted to go, and this won't be his last turn in the med bay. "

She bit her lip and nodded as a tear slid down her face so Ben continued to console, "Being a Knight of Ren means being ready to lay down life and limb at the orders of their Master…or Mistress," he stroked a wet trail across the apple of her cheek. "Cale knows that and in a few hours will come walking through that door bragging about the scar the Resistance gave him."

Rey had to laugh at this and reached up, tracing the scar that she gave him. "Right of passage I guess," she mused with a soft smile.

"Perhaps," Ben agreed and kissed her forehead. "Do you still want to train? We still have a few hours before they will be back on Coruscant."

She nodded and they walked together back into their sleeping quarters and dressed in comfortable clothing resembling Jedi robes. Not bothering to attach her saberstaff to her belt, she just carried the two-foot long hilt in her hand and waited for Ben out by the entry landing.

When he exited their chambers, he was looking down and fastening his belt around his waist and when he looked up, Rey was smiling at him. "What?" He asked in a light tone.

Rey shrugged and pink tinted her cheeks, "You're just really handsome."

He barked out a laugh, his hair falling into his face and he used his right hand to push it back before raising his left hand as well and tying his hair back with a band concealed around his wrist. "Whatever you say, sweetheart."

They exited the home and took the elevator one floor down, "What's on this level?" Rey asked as they entered a brightly lit hall.

"Guard's quarters, guest quarters, some offices, and a training room," Ben answered simply, placing his hand at her back and guiding her to the left and down the long hall.

The training room was large with a polished black floor. There was a matted area for hand to hand sparing and cubbies off to the side with gear and training weapons. She walked across the room to a wall of windows, boasting the same view as from their apartment above. Ben had done a wonderful job building a home for them and she couldn't wait for the time when they could truly share it as…

"Rey!"

Her thoughts were interrupted and her attention was grabbed by Ben urgently calling her name and she turned just in time to ignite her saber and deflect a blaster bolt. Shocked, with her eyes wide and her chest heavy, she looked up to see the smug look on Ben's face and the smoking gun in his hand.

"What the hell Ben?" She exclaimed, retracting the blade on her saber.

"You need to learn to stop blaster fire," he shrugged. "And besides, it's set to…" he looked down at the side of the firearm, "…yeah, it's set to stun."

Rey's eyes went wide again and she yelled across to him in disbelief, "You weren't even sure if it was on stun?"

"I was ninety-five percent sure…" he replied with a smirk.

She cocked her hip to the side, "Even on stun they hurt."

Ben rubbed at his arm, "They hurt, even more, when they are set to fire. Now quit complaining and get into a ready stance."

Rey hardly had time to square her feet before another blue bolt of energy was shot her way and she again used her saber to deflect it. "You aren't being fair."

"When was the last time your enemies fought fairly?" Another bolt was sent down range.

Gritting her teeth, she knew he was right. There may come a day when she would be fighting at his side, or at the side his Knights and she needed to be prepared for the unexpected. With a second snap and hiss, the other side of her saber came to life.

Ben studied her, she had gone to the Dark for strength and focus, and he wanted her to stay in the middle, in the between, and still be able to fight effectively. He lowered the blaster for a moment, "Do you trust me?" He called out to her.

"With my life," Rey said lowering her saber to hang at her side.

"Close your eyes…"

She gave him a discrediting look but slid her lids closed.

" _I want you to use the Force and feel the energy around you…_ "

He was speaking through the bond to her, his deep voice echoed in her mind and a shiver ran down her spine. But she did as he instructed, relaxing her thoughts and felt the ebb and flow of each particle around her.

A click, a release, a feeling of energy being displaced, a heat the rose in her as if sounding an alarm, a breath of air, and the sound of that energy being abruptly halted.

Rey opened her eyes and saw the still raised blaster in Ben's hand before she tuned her head and saw the scorch mark on the window just over her right shoulder. Her relaxed breathing started to race as she realized that he had just shot a blot within inches…or maybe millimeters of her head.

But his lesson had come across. By reaching out with the Force, she could feel the disturbance the bolt of energy caused as it dissected the particles around it.

"Good," he said aloud as he saw in her mind that she figured it out. "The goal is to sense the displaced energy and be able to stop the bolt before it gets too close."

Rey nodded and deactivated her saber, held it out and allowed Ben to call to it, and he set it upon a bench by the weapon storage. "Again," Rey instructed.

Ben marveled at his warrior Empress and lifted the blaster in her direction.

Sometime later, there was a buzz from the comm and Ben used his hand in a swiping motion to open the door. Davin walked in, adverting his eyes for a moment just in case but then took in the scene around him.

His Emperor was pointing a blaster at the Empress, and she also had her hand outstretched, a blue crackling bolt hung in the air between them. His head moved from his master to his mistress a few time before he cleared his throat, "They have broken atmosphere."

"Thank you, Davin," Ben said lowering the blaster and moving to return it to the weapons case.

Rey flicked her wrist and the blot went flying behind her into the duraglass wall with a sturdy thunk. As she crossed the room, she held her right hand out again and her saber landed in it's desired place. "We should go meet them on the landing deck."

"So we shall," Ben replied as both himself and Davin followed her to the lift.


	22. Part XXII

**Part XXII**

They were standing on the landing deck when a simple transport, about twice the size of Rey's came to perch next to the Command Shuttle. She was rolling up onto her toes, barely able to contain her anxiety, not knowing if she could expect Cale to be carried off the ship on a stretched and rushed off to a medical facility or…

But her worries were answered as the guard came trotting down the ramp with his right arm in a sling. Two men flanked Cale and gave him encouraging slaps on the back. The group crossed the small tarmac and the two Knights kelt down before Ben, Cale quickly slid into a similar position.

As a guard, Cale didn't have to completely submit to the Emperor, but as a Knight in training, he had to bow before his Master. They all addressed Ren as such, muttering a low ' _Master_ ' in unison.

Even in civilian clothing, Rey could feel the power rolling off of the Knights and she remembered Ben telling her that they too had the Force and they came from the academy as well.

"Stand," Ben commanded and the three rose to their full heights. "Alister, Jix, I would like for you to meet your Empress, Rey."

Both men bowed their heads and she studied them. Alister was just as tall as Ben and maybe a few years his senior, and Rey was curious why he may have been passed up for leadership. By Jedi standards, Ben was rather old when he joined the academy and most Lightsiders were becoming Masters in their mid-twenties. Jix on the other hand reminded Rey of Finn, his stature was shorter but it was obvious that he was strong. His skin was the color of rich cocoa but his eyes could rival her's in their lightness.

"There is no need to worry Empress," Jix spoke. "The plan went off without a hitch."

Rey remembered that Jix was an empath and figured that her emotions could be easily read by just the concerned expression on her face. "I doubt Cale feels that there were no hitches," she eyed the arm that was cradled to his chest.

"You mean this?" Cale said, shrugging his shoulder, attempting to be nonchalant, but winced. "It's just a scratch."

"Scratch, my ass," Rey said under her breath but was clearly heard by the men that stood around.

Alister's lips pulled in to a smile and he made eye contact with Ren, tilting his head as if they were having a private conversation within their own bond.

Rey huffed and rolled her eyes, knowing that she would be asking Ben about _that_ later. "Let's all go down to the apartment and you can debrief me on the mission." She started walking towards the doors that led back into the building, "And I made brownies," she called over her shoulder, not stopping to see if they were following.

"Your wife made us brownies," Jix said in a teasing but also pleasantly surprised tone.

"Yes," Ben answered, but quickly added, "But not my wife…not yet at least." And all five men watched the small fiery woman enter the high rise.

True to her word, Rey cut and served all of them pieces of the chocolaty dessert, before taking her place at the head of the table. She didn't feel as informal around the Knights yet to sit in Ben lap as she had during dinner with the guards.

She was getting the report on her mission, this had to be handled in a professional manner. "So take me through it."

"We departed Coruscant and made a stop on Corellia so it would appear that we had originally taken off from the world you reported the freighter on. We were intercepted about a thousand parsecs outside of Truuine." Alister started.

"We put just enough fight to make it believable," Cale added.

Alister shot the trainee a look, clearly, he was the senior Knight under Kylo and perhaps his Master had gone soft on the guards since such an interruption would never be tolerated under Snoke…

Rey sensed a clouding of Darkness, so she pushed, "What happened next?"

"They surrounded us with a few X-wings and then coupled to our ship with one of their own transports and then boarded us."

"There were only three that boarded. They were nervous, unsure if your intel about the crew was correct, but I sent out waves of reassurance but also fear." Jix added.

"Fear?" Rey asked.

Jix took another brownie from the plate in the middle of the table, "If they sensed that we were over confident, then they would have panicked, thinking that they had been tricked. But if they thought we were, as you had told them, simple civilian pilots, with no real loyalty to the Order and just wanted to escape with our lives, they were less likely to try and harm us."

"But they did harm you," Rey pointed to Cale's arm.

"That was your General's doing," Alister cut through.

"She's not one of them," Ben's voice was authoritative and left no question to Rey's belonging.

"Forgiveness, Master…Empress," Alister addressed and bowed his head at each.

"Poe?" Rey finally questioned. "Poe was there and he injured Cale?"

"Yes, ma'am," Cale spoke, looking between the Knights to see if it was proper for him to speak.

Rey huffed at all of this pomp and gave her order, "Just tell me what happened Cale."

"We had surrendered, agreed to give all of the goods and even the ship over to them if we were allowed to escape using the pods. But then Dameron had stepped forward, blaster in hand, raving about making sure we went back and told the uh…" he looked over at the Emperor.

"Just say it, Cale. I've been called worse," Ben offered.

"Told us to tell the cowardice dictator Kylo Ren that the Resistance won't be stopped and that the Force and the Jedi were on their side."

Rey snorted, "Poe wouldn't know the Force if it smacked him in the face." This, in turn, made the other Force sensitives at the table chuckle. "Well if he wanted you alive to deliver his message, why did he hurt you?"

Both Alister and Jix turned to look at their trainee with a smug expression and Cale shrunk in on himself some. "Well since I knew the source of their intel and also know your alliance to Ren and the Order…" he grimaced. "I may have laughed at him."

Ben hummed out a laugh through his nose as Rey full out barked. "Oh, you poor thing. You never had a chance if your plan was to bruise his ego," she quipped.

"He shot me!" Cale bellowed. "Right then and there…shot an unarmed man for just an eye roll and a laugh."

"You're lucky he's a pilot and not a marksman otherwise he could have blown off your head," Jix teased.

Rey bit at her lip and made eye contact with Ben for just a moment before standing and walking over to Cale. "May I?" She asked, pointing to the sling around his neck.

"Yeah…sure…" He didn't understand what she was doing but wouldn't deny her.

Carefully, Rey pulled the sling over his head and watched him clutch his injured arm to his chest with his good hand. Now she worked at the buttons down the front of his shirt.

Cale's eyes went wide and his terrified gaze slid to Ren and then back to the woman working at his tunic. "Empress?"

She didn't answer, just pulled the fabric away, seeing the clean but still angry blaster burn on his right shoulder. "This is your dominant arm? The one you shoot with…fight with?" Her eyes moved to Ben, confirming what she had feared.

"Yes, ma'am."

Bitting her lip again she wondered… "I'm going to touch you," she stated, trying to read the expression on Cale's face. "It won't hurt. At least I don't think it will. I've never done this before."

The Empress had misread the horrified look on Cale's face as fear of pain. Perhaps it was fear at having to sit there and have the Emperor's dark eyes upon him as the Empress undressed his chest and prepared to lay hands upon him. But again, he would not deny her, so Cale simply nodded.

Rey took a calming breath and then placed her right hand at the front of the guard's shoulder and the left on his back. She had only read about this in the Jedi texts but had never tried it, but she had to do something. An injury like this, if not properly healed could be career or life ending for a Knight. If Cale could not properly protect himself, he was good as dead out there.

Concentrating, she pulled from her Light, letting it wash over her and move through her. Ben sucked in a breath from the other end of the table, feeling her pull at her healing light through the bond was like waking after a never-ending sleep.

"Is she doing what I think she is?" Alister asked Jix as they both watched the skin under Rey's hands practically glow.

"I think she is," Jix answers dumbly.

Force healing was strictly a Light sided power within the Force and no one who had ever truly given themselves over to the Dark, even if they were redeemed, would be able to draw enough power from the light to heal.

But Rey had never fully succumbed. Rey had never snuffed out her Light for the power and draw of the Darkside.

The room was quiet for a long time. Rey's brows were pinched together and a bead of sweat slid from her forehead down her cheek. When she finally pulled away, everyone was shocked to see the wound completely healed as if it has never happened.

Cale ran his left hand over the new skin and tested his range of motion, "That's amazing Empress. Thank you."

Rey smiled and went to speak, but her eyes fluttered and then the room when dark.

Apart from Cale, Alister was closest and he caught Rey in his arms before she hit the floor. As he held her for just a moment, looking down upon her pale but flushed face, he was in awe at the sheer power that coursed through her. "Incredible," he mused.

Ben stepped up to his First Knight, "I'll take her…the effort must have been too much."

Alister half nodded, half bowed and deported the small woman into the arms of his Master. He watched Ren place a kiss to her damp forehead as the couple moved through the kitchen and disappeared into the living area.

"Did you see that?" Cale gained Alister's attention, still moving his arm around as if in disbelief that the injury was truly gone.

"I've never seen anything like it before," the First Knight replied.

"We should be off," Jix said picking up a forth brownie from the plate for good measure.

"Yes," Davin spoke for the first time since collecting the Emperor and Empress from the training room. "Tyris and Arlan are anxious to hear about the mission as well."

They walked towards the entry, all but Alister filing out the door. Ren reappeared and walked up to the Knight. "Thank you for everything old friend." Ben spoke.

Instead of a normal handshake, they clasped their hands around the other's forearm as brothers in arms often do. "Her Light…" Alister started, still in awe.

"I know," Ben simply answered, having felt it more intensely than his Knight could ever fathom.

"Where did you find her?"

Ben released his hand from his friend's arm, "Brought by Han Solo to Takodana by way of Jakku." Alister's expression was even more confused and Ben laughed, "Have Cale tell you the story some time."

Alister nodded, but his brows still pinched together and he made no move to leave, "You two are bound… Cosmically bonded."

"We are," Ben confirmed.

The Knight thought through the situation more, "She's good for you…"

Ben smiled and placed his hand on Alister's shoulder, "She's good for all of us. The galaxy is a better place because of her."

Bowing, Alister moved to the door and once again the apartment was dark and quiet.

Entering their sleeping quarters, Ben saw that Rey was right where he had left her, sprawled out on the bed, her chest evenly rising and falling. He moved her gently, removing her boots and pants. He cradled her head against his chest as he slid her arms from the gray vest she was wearing and then scooped her up once more, only to place her at her side of the bed.

As he laid her head upon the pillow, he bent down and kissed her forehead again and then pulled the blankets up around her shoulders.

He shut the door of the fresher behind him, not wanting to disturb her with the light, but he also doubted that she would wake until morning. Ben made quick work of undressing and a shower before pulling on a pair of sleep pants.

All the while he thought about Rey's ability to Force heal and what it meant for their bond. Historically, bonds between Master and apprentice worked as two-way exchanges of information and power. His bond with Rey was no different in that aspect, but so much more than anything that had ever been recorded. He was unsure if ever before in the eons of time, the Force had created two people so perfectly matched to the other.

He did know how much Rey's dark corners bothered her and how scared she was to fall completely into darkness. Now with certainty, he could tell his love that she was so soundly in the Light that the Force had smiled down upon her in glorious fashion.

Sliding into bed beside her and wrapping strong arms around her middle, Ben felt that he was reaching for greatness itself. There would never be a time when he would doubt her power or cease basking in her Light. So with a soft kiss to the skin just under her jaw, he closed his eyes and slumbered.

* * *

Rey woke to sunlight streaming into the room from the vast windows and an empty bed. She shivered, not due to a chill, but because of a absent feeling she had without Ben at her side. But the smell of bacon and caf pulled her from the comforts of their bed.

Pulling on her robe, she noticed that she was only wearing her panties and tunic from the prior day. Padding across the apartment, she spotted Ben standing at the stove, bare from the waist up. Taking an extra moment to appreciate the vast expanse of his broad shoulders, she bit at her lip and wrapped her arms around herself.

"Good morning beautiful," Ben said without turning around.

She pushed off the doorway and fully entered the kitchen. "Good morning," she replied walking up to the steaming pot of caf and pouring herself a cup.

Ben snorted, "I see where your priorities lie." He set down the spatula in his hand and walked to two paces over to her and placed a kiss to her upturned face.

"Stop having such good caf and maybe you can have my attentions first thing in the morning," she said in jest, looking up into his eyes which seemed lighter as they glowed in the morning sunlight.

"I'll have to keep that in mind," he kissed her one more time before returning to his spot in front of the stove.

Taking a sip of the dark liquid Rey moaned to herself and then looked into the pan that Ben was stirring. "I thought you said you didn't cook."

"I don't cook much…but I do know how to fry an egg and put bacon in the oven."

"Aren't I a lucky girl," Rey mused.

"I would say so," Ben said back with a smirk before he twisted the dial to shut off the flame. "Can you grab us some plates?" He pointed to an upper cabinet.

Rey set down her mug and retrieved two plates and set them next to the stove. Ben portioned out eggs and pulled a pan of bacon and also some toast that he was keeping warm in the oven.

They ate out on the terrace, watching the city come to life and the sun come up the rest of the way. "So what do we have planned for the day?" Rey asked.

"I'm not quite sure. What would you like to do?" Ben replied.

Rey thought for a moment, "Well I have to pick up Rose and Finn by sundown tomorrow so that gives us another two days…" She looked over at him, "Take me to see something beautiful."

Ben laughed, thinking that he could be cheeky and go fetch her a mirror, but after she reminded him of their limited time together, he didn't want to waste any of it. "Do you want to stay on world or go off?"

She thought again before smiling, "Surprise me."

He returned her bright expression and they quickly finished their breakfast. Since Rey was unable to bathe the night before and had slept with the grime and sweat of their prior day's training session, she wholeheartedly joined Ben in the shower.

What started out as innocent washing quickly turned in to panting breaths and wandering hands. As she had tired to wash her hair, Ben lavished her breasts with his fingers and lips. He gripped at her toned rear and ran his fingers between her thighs.

Before long he had her bent over, her hands resting on a stone bench built into the corner of the shower. He ran his hand down her spine and she looked over her shoulder at him. When she moved her right hand between her legs and started to tease herself, Ben lost all control and entered her quickly.

It wasn't often that he took her like this, much preferring the intimacy of facing one another and he also loved watching her expression as she fell into bliss, but in this moment, as he slammed his cock into her heated center, an animalistic side him took over.

Ben placed a large hand where her neck met her shoulder, digging his fingers into her collar bone as he pulled her back into him with more force. His other hand was reached around her body, palming one breast and then the other. Rey was a mess of cries and pleading for release. He bent his knees and rocked into her at such an angle that had her legs quaking.

Abandoning her chest and throat, he moved both of his hands to her hips, firstly to provide her some support as she raced towards her finish, but also to run his right hand into her curls and placed pressured swirling motions upon her clit with his middle finger. With his hand splayed out across her lower abdomen, he could feel her soft tissue give under his palm with each of his deep thrusts and he groaned at how completely her tiny body accommodated him.

She was becoming impossibly tight and taking his unoccupied left hand, he moved it along her rib cage, bringing her more upright and pressing her back to his chest. This new position rubbed the sensitive spot under the head of his cock against the ribbed patch of her core and they both moaned at the sensation.

This position also allowed Ben to suck at her neck and shoulder, his finger still teasing her pulsing bud. Rey expressed screaming yips with each up-thrust and Ben loved how verbal she was during their love making. She wasn't shy around him, she was never ashamed to tell him what she wanted…what she needed.

So when she cried out, "Ben…don't stop…please…please…"

He gripped her tighter and buried himself harder into her until she was gasping and her inner walls were clenched around him and then fluttered. A few more thrusts later he was joining her, his body unable to deny her as she milked him of his spend.

Unable to release her, he held her for a few more minutes, stroking his hands down her slick body and kissing her as her head lulled back against his chest.

Fully satisfied, they finished the rest of their shower quickly and dressed in simple pants and tunics. Just as Ben was fastening the belt around his waist, there was a chime at the front door. "I'll get it," Ben offered and trotted out of the room.

A few minutes later there was a knock at the doorframe to their sleeping quarters and Rey turned to see Arlan standing there. "May I come in?" The female guard asked, having been told by Ren that she was not to be in the bed chambers without the express permission of the Empress.

"Yes," Rey offered with a smile. "I'm guessing Ben has asked you to help me pack."

"He has ma'am."

"Any chance you will tell me where he is taking me?" Rey did love Ben's surprises but also apart of her was very curious.

"He made me swear on my life," Arlan gave a teasing smile, both women knowing that the Emperor wouldn't strike her down for spilling the beans, but she also did not wish to anger him anymore.

Rey giggled, "Well then you better not tell me."

Seeing that the guard was still standing across there room, Rey opened up her closet and took a step back, "Thank you for getting such pretty things for me, but I'm hopeless with these dresses."

Arlan smiled and moved over to the closet, "The Emperor had particular needs and events that he would want you to dress for but left the color selection up to me and I hope you are pleased."

Rey reached out and traced her fingers over a midnight blue gown with beaded shoulders and a flowing cape. "I never dreamed I would have such nice things."

"You know that Ren would give you anything your heart desired."

"I know that…"

"And if I may be so bold, I think that he prefers you like this," Arlan looked down at the simple wrapped tunic, three-quart length pants, boots, and vest. The Empress had even adorned her arm warps, looking every bit the backwater Jedi that she was.

Rey looked down at herself and then back at the rack of beautiful clothes. "Why would you think that?"

Arlan started to busy herself, pulling comfortable clothes out the drawers at the side of the closet and also pulled out the blue dress that Rey had been admiring. "If he just wanted a pretty girl in an expensive dress, he would have had his pick of queens, princesses, or daughters of the galactic gentry, but he wants you. He's fought…killed, changed, and made sacrifices to be with you. There's something to say for that."

"I suppose there is," Rey said after a long thoughtful moment and she watched Arlan slip the dress into a protective bag and zip it inside.

"That should be all you need from here," Arlan laid the garment bag across the bed. "Would you like me to go get your toiletries?"

Rey thought about the bottle of pills setting next to her sink and still wishing for some privacy in _those_ matters, she declined the help and walked herself into the fresher to collect her things.

Once her small travel case was packed, she held the pill bottle in her hands, shaking it for good measure. Sighing, she opened the lid, gulped down the tablet with a swig of water from the sink and then tossed the bottle in with the rest of her toiletries before walking back into the bedroom and putting the small case into a larger tote.

Arlan started to collect the bags and Rey reached for one. "I can get them," the trooper reassured.

Rey rolled her eyes, not used to be treated like she was incapable of even carrying a bag, "At least let me take the dress so it doesn't get wrinkled."

The guard agreed and they walked out of the sleeping quarters and into the entry where Ben was waiting.

"Sir, she insisted," Arlan said nodding to the bag in Rey's arms.

"I don't doubt it," he said with a smile and leaned down to kiss his Empress. "Are we ready to go?"

Rey beamed a smile at him and nodded.

He turned and picked up the red cloak that she had worn yesterday and held it out for her. "Do I have to?" Rey asked thinking that the velvet cloak would look silly over her normal clothes.

"It's just until we are in the shuttle…unless you want to make our relationship public right now?" He got a glint in his eye. "I can call my press secretary and have a holo-conference set up within the hour."

She huffed at him, passing him the garment bag and taking the cloak out of his hands before shoving her arms into the long sleeves. With slightly aggressive movement, she fastened it closed across her collar bones and pulled the hood up, giving him an expression as if to say, ' _Is this better?_ '

"That's what I thought," he said with a chuckle and placed his hand at Rey's back as Arlan led the way out of the apartment. They took the lift up to the landing pad and Rey ducked her head so that she was completely concealed and she let Ben lead her on to the MK3.


	23. Part XXIII

**Part XXIII**

Once inside the shuttle, Ben took the bags from Arlan and let the trooper go take her place in the pilot's seat. "I'm banishing you from the bridge," he told Rey as he directed her towards their quarters. "At lease until we get where we are going," he added when he saw her dejected face.

Ben didn't need to pack for the trip as he had a fully stocked wardrobe on the shuttle for himself, but he set Rey's bag on their bed and then hung the garment bag on her side of the closet.

"How long of a trip is it?" Rey asked sliding out of her red cloak and passing it to Ben to hang up as well.

"About half a day."

"What shall we do with our time?" She paced around their quarters, running her hand along the back of the couch.

Ben smirked at the lust in her eyes and loved his insatiable Empress even more. "I was hoping you would help me rule."

Rey's expression changed to surprise but quickly took a seat on the couch, ready to help in any way she could. While she still didn't want to sit upon a throne, she loved to learn from Ben, loved to have discussions about the interworking of government and different worlds around the galaxy. She also loved that he listened to her, and while her additions were from lessons learned through her hard life and not some Coruscant education, he valued her opinions.

He smiled at how eager she was and went to pick up the datapad that he kept aboard the ship before sitting next to her. While he couldn't get away with such informal meetings with his other staff, he loved her head perched in his lap as they discussed their empire.

"What needs the Empress' attention today?" She smiled up at him.

Starting to run his fingers through her hair, he met her eyes for just a moment, "What do you remember of last night?"

She sighed, "Everything I think. The mission when okay, but Poe shot Cale." She swallowed, "Then I healed him."

"Yes," Ben said still in awe and stroked her forehead, "You, so full of Light, you Force healed."

"I didn't know I could do that," she admitted.

He explained what he had mused about the prior night, "Only someone who has never completely given into the Darkside is able to use the healing powers of the Force."

"So I've never…" her question hung.

"No," Ben reassured. "You may have used the strength of Darkside at times, but you have never steeped in it as I have…as my Knights have."

She considered his statement and almost pitied the Knights. They may have followed Ben thinking that Snoke would allow them to better use and understand the Force, but she doubted any of them truly knew what they were getting themselves into.

Ben's voice broke her thoughts, "What are you going to do about Poe?"

"I'm not sure," she exhaled.

"I saw the altercation in Alister's mind. Poe is still swirling with darkness and you need to be careful around him. All joking aside, he shot an unarmed man for little more than a chuckle. Just think what he would do to you…for this," he laced his hand with hers, indicating their bond, their relationship, their love.

Gripping his hand, she moved it to her lips and placed a kiss on the back of his knuckles, "I'm trying not to think about it. I want my reaction to be genuine when he tells me about it when I get back."

He hummed in reply and she looked up at him again, "Not that I mind, but why are we taking the guards with us on just a day trip to a planet that I assume is friendly to the New Order."

Ben laughed, "Apart from not wanting to ruin the surprise and actually needing to get some work done, Tyris can cook, Cale is entertaining, Davin keeps Cale in line, and Arlan can attend to you."

"I don't need _attending_ to, Ben."

"Fine," he relented. "Arlan is here to be your companion."

Rey accepted his comment with a slight laugh of her own before she asked something she had been wondering for a while. "Why are you letting Cale train as a Knight? I mean, if the others came with you from the academy and are Force sensitive, why bring on someone else?"

He lounged back on the couch, stroking at her hair again, "Well, I don't really see many Force sensitive people lining up to join the Jedi Killer's band of Knights." He looked down at her, knowing that she usually had something to say about his past monikers, but she didn't utter a word, so he continued. "And Kaida is seven months pregnant."

She sat up at his last statement, turning her body to stare at him. He just laughed, "Which part do you find so shocking? The female Knight part or the pregnant part?"

"Both I think…" Rey mused breathlessly.

Ben reached out to her and she settled into the space under his arm and at his side. "Kaida and Volsh were together at the academy, but in secret of course because the Jedi discourage affections. With Snoke, passion was encouraged but love was considered a weakness. Under the New Order, and with a Master so completely smitten with a Lightsider himself, it would have been hypocritical of me to deny them."

"So their child will have the Force?" She had wondered about her own children with Ben since they both were so strong in the Force if their children would be saddled with what at times seemed like a burden, but also could bring about such wonderful change.

"Nothing is guaranteed, but the likelihood of their child having a low midi-chlorian count is slim."

Rey bit her lip and considered what he said and almost wanted to ask what his count was, but also thought it rude, so she asked about the Knight. "Is Kaida planing on returning to her post after the baby is born?"

"I don't believe so and that is why I am allowing Cale to train. He is really an experiment, but don't tell him that," Ben said with a smile. "If non-Force users can be put into the role of Knights, then it opens up more opportunities for not only other troopers but also my current Knights to take on other roles, either within the Order or to have the freewill to settle themselves."

"You're kind of amazing," Rey nudged him with her shoulder and smiled up at him.

"I know," Ben said back with the signature Solo smirk.

They felt the ship shift into hyperdrive and Ben knew that they had entered the Corellian Run hyperspace lane and were well on their way.

The rest of the flight they did attend to business. Ben spoke about his plans for a new delegation, refusing to call it a Senate. "There are too many worlds for each to have a representative, it gets messy and I think this is why the New Republic never accomplished anything. Plus there were two sides of the Senate, the Populist party and the Centrists, and they were always apposing each other, which again meant that nothing got accomplished."

"So what are you proposing?"

"There are one-thousand and twenty-four sectors in the galaxy, and let's say that fifty of those are uninhabited in Wild Space, that leaves under a thousand representatives. That is clearly more manageable than the ten-thousand Senators of the New Republic."

"Ten-thousand?" Rey asked in wonder. She often times couldn't get her group of five or six to agree on a show or movie on holo, let alone get thousands to agree on galactic law.

Ben just nodded, "Now some sectors have more planets than others so that might need to be accounted for."

"Some sectors are poorer than other too."

"Explain," Ben asked, knowing where she was going with her thought process but also encouraging her to engage. Moments like these when she also pointed out the flaws in the designs that he had been considering, was the reason he knew she could rule as his equal.

"You saw what it was like on Jakku and let's say that there was a more populated or affluent world within the same sector." Ben nodded, following what she was saying. "How do we know that aid and resources will be equally distributed? Or what if more populated worlds are asking for laws that don't benefit more remote worlds?"

Ben sat back and rubbed his fingers against his lips, "So what would you propose?"

Rey was thoughtful for a long moment, "I can't believe that I'm saying this, but I think that for a while we need to have the final say. I know your intent is to not rule forever, to not expect our children to assume a throne, but until that point, or until the galaxy is at rest, our connection to the Force will have to guide us.

"With your Core upbringing and my life in the Rim, we should be able to use both aspects to see the benefits or follies of each law." She had been looking down at the floor during her speech, her lack of education still ate at her at times, but when she looked up and saw the beaming smile on his face, her doubts were washed away.

As he leaned over to kiss her senseless and praise her for her insight, they felt the shuttle shift and Ben mused that they must have changed course from the Corellian Run to the Duros Space Run and that meant they would be at their destination within an hour.

He did kiss her though and he pulled her into his lap so that she could help him reply to the many unanswered memos on his datapad.

Arlan slowed the shuttle some to move from the Duros Space Run to the Enarc Run and knew that it would only be a few minutes before they were exited hyperspace. She double checked the systems and coordinates that Ren had provided.

She effortlessly eased the shuttle out of the hyperspace lane and the terrestrial world came into view. "You better go tell Ren that we have arrived. He won't want to miss the Empress' reaction."

Davin stood from the jump seat at the back of the bridge and walked the short distance to the chamber door, hitting the comm button, not wanting to ever walk in on the Emperor and Empress unannounced ever again.

When the comm clicked, Davin relayed, "Sir, we are approaching the planet."

"Thank you, Davin," came the reply and the trooper when to take back up his spot on the bridge.

Arlan broke atmosphere just as Rey and Ren came upon the bridge and the Empress took up her post between the two pilot's seats, looking out through the expansive windscreen.

Rey didn't know where to look first, for stretched before her was rolling hills, deep blue lakes, a city off in the distance that seemed to just appear out of a cloud of mist, and meadows with every color of flower dotting them.

Ben basked in her excitement and light though the bond and he reached out to touch her mind, whispering to her through the Force, " _Welcome to Naboo, my love_."

The shuttle did a wide sweeping circle around a lake that was cradled between green rolling hills and at the far end of the valley, she could see a home saddled up next to the water. The exterior seemed to glow under the bright Naboo sun and Rey could see expansive gardens surrounding the home.

"Who lives there?" She asked, pointing out the front windscreen.

"We do," Ben said with a smirk.

Rey turned her head slowly to look back at him before she saw the absolute truth in his expression and through the bond. She squealed in delight and she buzzed with excitement as they rounded the home once more and then she heard the wings start to fold as the shuttle was coming to rest on a flat grassy area about a hundred meters from what she could only consider a mansion.

She turned from the console and ran for the bridge door, skidding to a stop just long enough to jump into Ben's arms and kiss him before she was speeding towards the ramp. Her boots were left in the main hold and she ran until she crested a hill, her toes curling into the warm grass and she took in a large inhale of fresh air.

Closing her eyes, she tilted her head back and let the warm sun wash over her and there was something peaceful about connecting to the Living Force when it was just her and nature. Beyond Ben and the guards, Rey could tell that there wasn't a soul around for miles and she felt the balance that could only come from nature.

Ben and Davin stood at the base of the ramp watching the girl up on the hill. "She really is something," Davin observed.

"Light personified," Ben confirmed.

Arlan walked down the ramp with Rey's bag and dress in her arms before nodding across the property, "Well don't keep her waiting."

Ben smiled and then like a school boy hopelessly in love, he trotted up the grassy hill. Just as he was coming upon her, she giggled and opened her eyes, throwing herself at him. Ben quickly caught her and spun her in a circle as she wrapped her legs around his middle and kissed him in a frenzy.

"This place is amazing," her smile was just as bright as her Light. "It was your grandmother's right?" She had spoken with him enough times about his grandparents and knew that Padmé was once a Queen and Senator of Naboo.

"The estate has been in the Naberrie family for over two hundred years. When she died and Luke and Leia were presumed to stillborn, it was turned over to the monarchy. I politely asked for it back about a year ago."

She gave him a concerned look, "Did this polite request come at the end of a saber?"

He chucked, "No. It came with the upmost respect and a treaty signing."

"Always so diplomatic," Rey mused.

"Don't let anyone else hear you say that. People might think that I have gone soft in my current blissfully happy state."

"You are ridiculous," Rey laughed and then unhooked her ankles and slid down his body. "Show me the gardens, then the house."

Ben obliged, taking her hand and walking her back down the hill and through a gate set into tall hedge walls. Rey noticed that the gardens needed some tending to and she itched to get her fingers into the rich soil. But she also wanted to see the interior of the home before she completely caked herself in dirt.

They entered the rear of the home from a terrace and Rey had to stop for a good few minutes to take in the breathtaking sight of the lake. Fragrant wisteria hung from ancient vines that created a thick canopy over half the terrace where an intimate seating area was set up.

The house was much grander than the modern apartment in the city, with tall and open rooms and walls of stone and decorated with rich wooden furniture. Ben held her hand and walked her through the many rooms and halls, pointing out the table that was a gift from the Senator from Vandor or the painting done by Rhynna Jormum from Bardotta.

When they had seen each room, Ben walked her back out onto the terrace, "And this is where Anakin and Padmé married in secret." He stood, holding both of her hands in his, looking down at her glowing face and he was reminded of the box Malkolm had delivered to him the week prior.

Rey gazed out beyond the stone banister, the tall evergreens, and the vast gardens to the dark water of the lake. "I want to raise our family here," she said as her eyes slid back to Ben as he looked down at her with an expression somewhere between devotion and pain.

Ben so badly wanted to start his life with Rey at that moment. He would wed her in the same exact spot that his grandparents had many years ago. He would give her children, give her the family she always craved, and he would never leaver her, never abandon her to the harshness of the galaxy. The painful part of all this longing was the fact that he knew that time was still a long ways off.

So he just pulled his lips into a smile and leaned down to kiss her, "Anything you want, my love."

They wrapped around each other for a long moment before he pulled away from her, "We have to head into town in a few hours, so if you want to play in the garden you better go now."

Rey beamed a smile at him again and quickly kissed his lips before turning and trotting down the stairs and set to work in a bed of lavender. The soil was moist and cold under her fingers and the smell of the delicate purple flowers relaxed her mind and body.

In her arm warps and baking under the mid day sun, she almost felt like her old self. Not the Rey that was on the brink of starving or the Rey that was beaten to a pulp by an older boy for her day's pick, but the Rey that would sled down sand dunes and call out with laughter or when she was finally able to master landing a TIE on her simulator.

She felt carefree, as if the ruler of all the galaxy wasn't waiting just inside the house for her. She was able to ignore the fact that Davin stood watch just on the other side of a hedge. There was no Resistance to go back to. There was no more war. As sweat dripped from her brow and she continued to pull weeds, there was peace.

Before Rey knew it, Ben was walking out to collect her. He picked a few sprigs of lavender and tucked them behind her ear and kissed her temple before leading her into the home and to the chambers they were staying in. "Go shower and then I will send in the droid to help you get ready."

"A droid?" Rey asked, thinking she was perfectly capable of dressing herself. She thought back to what Arlan had said to her on Coruscant, that Ben preferred her as she was, in her simple clothes, dirt and engine grease under her nails and all.

Ben blushed a little and looked down at the floor, "We have an audience with the Queen. She has asked us to dine with her."

Rey backtracks and an expression of horrified shock painted her features. "The Queen?" Internally she was trying to think about how long it would take her to run to the shuttle and get off this beautiful planet. _Forty-two seconds,_ she mused to herself.

Holding out his hands as if approaching a scared animal, Ben used his calmest voice. "The gown is just a formality. She will love you as you are."

It wasn't necessarily the fact that she would be dressing up or having a grooming droid primp at her hair more than she had in her entire life, it was her fear of eating in front of the Queen. Back on the Resistance base, she was often the first one done with her meals and she had been teased often about not breathing between bites. But since she grew up not knowing when her next meal would be, she at times ate to excess.

Ben had found her style of eating with her hands and moans of delight and her open lip smacking endearing, but she had studied him when he ate, picking up the right utensil, taking his time to cut up his food, the way he wiped his knife along his fork before slowly moving it to his lips. She watched him chew with his lips pressed together, or how he could elegantly hold a wine glass as he took small sips.

The Queen would have the same superior manners and Rey would just be a fraud in a pretty dress.

Ben's face became pained. "Don't think like that," he begged. He stepped up to her and cupped her cheeks in both of his hands, "You are my Empress, no one will ever be superior to you."

All Rey could do was give him a tight-lipped nod before she turned and entered the fresher, needing to get away from his pitiful gaze. While she stood under the cascades of warm water, she thought about how different she and Ben were. She thought about what it would really mean to stand at his side, to be publicly announced as his Empress.

Once Ben had exposed his face after the attempt on his life, the holorags had a field day picking apart his appearance. They talked about his dull hair that she though shone more beautiful than a raven's feather. His nose was called oversized, imposing, and askew but she thought it perfect and loved the way it pushed into her cheek when he kissed her. They had called his face ugly, deformed, and hollow, his coloring too pale and almost sickly looking.

If all of these harsh observations could be made against the most powerful man in the galaxy, what was in store for her. Would she be called dirty and ignorant due to her Jakku upbringing? Would her figure be scrutinized for being too thin or not having voluptuous curves? Would she be called unworthy of her appointment and worse yet, unworthy of the attentions of the Emperor?

As her mind ran through all of the intimidating and dreadful parts of her future life with Ben, she didn't know if she would ever be ready for any of it. She was powerful within the Force and knew that Ben loved her more than either of them could ever fathom, but for a girl who only wanted to be loved…to have the galaxy pick her apart, to have each of her flaws and insecurities pin pointed and discussed was more than she could bear.

Just as she was about to fall apart, completely crumble in on herself, two strong arms wrapped around her and pulled her back to a warm and firm chest. He lightly shushed in her ear, rocking her back and forth, pouring his love and affections through the bond. "You are so much more than you see in yourself," he whispered into her wet hair.

He pulled her from the shower and dried her off with a soft towel, "I can go to the palace alone, but I do need to make an appearance."

Rey felt even worse now, thinking that she was holding him back from his responsibilities. She knew that Ben saw her as his equal and trusted that he would never push her to do anything that she couldn't handle, so if he had faith that she could make it through one dinner than she would put her conference in his convictions. "No…it will be fine," she said with a smile that was supposed to be reassuring. "Just send in the droid."

Ben gave her one last long look, searching for any hint of doubt before he gave her a tight-lipped smile and kissed her softly on the lips before exited the fresher to dress.

A humanoid looking droid came into the fresher with an unsteady waddle. Rey sat on a low bench in front of the long vanity and looked at her self in the mirror. Her dusting of freckles showed that she spent too much time in the sun when she was younger. Her hair was dull and dry form using ration soap. She thought that the poor droid must think she is hopeless.

But within an hour Rey could hardly recognize the woman looking back at her in the mirror. Her updo had a shine to it that she had to touch to be reassured that it was truly her natural hair. The medium length locks had been twisted and braided into an elegant crown around her head. It reminded her vaguely of a style Leia would wear.

Her makeup was sparse and natural looking with darkened lashes and rosy lips, along with a slight blush on her cheeks. She looked healthy as if she had never been on the verge of being malnourished and like she never had to move out to a decaying AT-AT to avoid being taken against her will.

She looked like a young princess awaiting a dashing Emperor to come and whisk her away to a life of blissful happiness.

A knock on the door pulled her from a fantasy that she had only seen on the sappy holo shows that Rose watches. Arlan peaked her head into the fresher and a wide smile spread on her face, "Rey, you look beautiful."

No extra blush was needed to paint Rey's cheeks under the compliments of someone she was quickly considering a friend. "Thank you," she replied simply.

Arlan stepped further into the fresher with the garment bag in her hand, "Ren has requested that I help you into your dress. "

Rey nodded and thanked the droid that had not uttered a single word during the transformation. She stood in a towel as Arlan suspended the bag on a high hook that a robe was also hung from.

When the guard turned back around after unzipping the bag and fluffing out the gown she saw Rey with extremely pink cheeks, bitting at her lip, and clutching at her towel. Arlan thought that maybe humor would work to ease some of the awkwardness of the Empress needing to undress. "Wouldn't want Davin to have all the fun since he is only one apart from Ren who has seen you naked."

Not being able to help herself, Rey burst out laughing. "You heard about that?"

"Cale won't let the poor guy live it down," Arlan walked forward and handed Rey a pair of dark blue panties, "I'll turn so you can put these on, but you won't be able to wear a breast band with this dress."

Rey nodded and once the trooper turned, she slid the scrap of silk up her legs as Arlan pulled the dress out and unfastened the buttons down the back of the dress. Even under the heavy weave of the guard's tunic and vest, Rey could tell that Arlan was more endowed in the chest and Rey was unsure if she should feel insecure about her modest breast size. But her body was perfectly made for Ben, every piece of her matched flawlessly to his.

So with a calming exhale, she pulled away her towel and stepped into the folds of midnight blue silk being held out for her. Slipping her arms into the lace sleeves, Rey pulled the cool fabric up her body and admired the beading detail over the lace that lay across her upper chest and then half way down her back.

"This color is wonderful against your complexion," Arlan mused as she fastened the buttons to secure the lace-up Rey's back. She pulled at the dark blue sheer cape that was attached at the end of the lace cap sleeves and where the silk met lace across the back of the dress. It flowed out perfectly. "Ren won't know what to do with himself."

Rey laughed to herself, as Ben had never seen her like this and if he was half as shocked as she was, then Arlan and the droid had done their work smashingly. While he saw her in the simple cream dress the day prior, in this moment she actually felt like an Empress, like she could walk into any room and command attention and respect. If only Poe could see her now…

Arlan fluffed the cape once more before saying in a soft voice that it was time to go. Rey checked herself once more in the mirror and then followed the trooper out of the fresher, they paused at the sleeping chamber door, "Do you really think he will like it?" Rey asked in a timid voice.

The guard just gave a knowing smile in return and then opened the door.

Ben was pacing in the main hall and peaking around the corner, Rey took just an extra moment to look at him. He was not in his usual uniform, perhaps the same pants and boots, but his coat only came down to his hips and it's high straight collar was the type of fashion only worn by Senators and Councilmen of the Old Republic.

As he pulled at the crisp white cuffs of his shirt that laid neatly under his gray jacket, he finally sensed her and turned towards the hall to their chambers. "Rey," her name on his lips was a prayer and a command, awe mixed with anticipation.

She stepped away from the wall and into the light of the entry and for a second, Rey was sure that she felt Ben's heart stop within the bond. It was the most thrilling and terrifying second of her life.


	24. Part XXIV

**Part XXIV**

Ben wasn't sure how to function when Rey stepped out into the light of the entry. Her tan skin glowed under the midnight blue of the gown and her hair was swept up in a fashion that fondly reminded him of his mother. The dress moved like liquid around her slender legs and he wanted to fall at her feet before running his hands under the silky fabric.

The cape of the gown flowed out elegantly behind her and all that was missing was his mother's nebula opal on her finger and a crown upon her head. She was every bit the Empress that he knew she could be and he was even more in awe of her as her nervousness stretched out to him through the bond.

"Breathtaking," he whispered out as he finally stepped up to her and placed a kiss upon her perfectly blushing cheek.

Rey swallowed thickly, his normal scent was intensified, more woodsy and less recycled and ionized air. He also had a few sprigs of lavender pined to his lapel and she almost swooned at how much she loved him.

Davin stepped up from behind Ben and held out the Empress' gray cloak that she had last worn on Noonar. Ben took it and swept it around her shoulders, "We won't be taking the MK3 into the city, but still want to be careful."

Rey nodded, still not having uttered a word, she just simply slid her hand into Ben's outstretched and waiting palm, as he led her from the home and to a nondescript shuttle.

Ben seemed nervous, which was quite contrary to his normal cocky bravado. He cleared his throat and turned to Cale, who passed him a thin black box. Ben ran his fingertips over the soft velvet case, "This belonged to my grandmother."

Her breath hitched as he pulled up the lid. Within the dark case sat a ruby the size of her palm. It was set in a pale metal and studded with diamonds. Rey reached out to touch it but was hesitant like it would burn her upon contact.

"It was once set into one of her headdresses, but I had it made into a necklace." He lifted the piece from the box and moved it around her slender neck, fastening it with a simple hooking clasp.

The jewels felt heavy and cold against her overheated skin. The large stone sat just below her collarbones and she reached her hand up again, finally touching her fingers to the ruby.

Her sight blurred and she was pulled into a vision, one of a young Queen who was fair and kind. A Queen that was fearless and didn't balk at danger or adventure when the Jedi came to her world. This Queen became a Senator, wise and tenacious, and fell hopelessly in love with a Jedi.

Rey felt Padmé's joy and fear, her love and the excitement when she discovered she was with child. She felt the late Senator's deviation when Anakin turned to the Darkside, she felt Padmé's pain, her heartbreak when she lost her other half, the love of her life, only shortly knowing the love of a mother towards her children before she died from the greatest sorrow.

A tear slid down her face as Ben cupped his hands around her shoulders. His forehead was pressed to hers, witnessing what she was seeing, absorbing what she was feeling, his heart was gripped just as tightly as hers, and he vowed to never let his Rey ever experience that kind of pain.

Finally, Rey's vision cleared and she blinked a few times, stray tears painting her cheeks. "Thank you, Ben," she spoke softly, stroking the stone again. Rey knew that she could feed an entire world with the worth of the necklace, but also that the value of the piece was more in the sentiment of it. The jewel held the spirit of an amazing woman and Rey would strive to be as just and benevolent a ruler, loving and devoted to her soulmate, but she also would protect Ben from the darkness, vowing to never let them slip into such despair.

"Emperor, Empress," Davin caught their attention. "We are coming upon the palace."

Rey gazed out of the shuttles windscreen and saw the sun beautifully setting just beyond the turquoise-hued aged copper domes of a vast palace. It was perched on the edge of a cliff and mist from the surround waterfalls cast prisms of colors across the sky. She reached up again, placing her hand over the necklace and as they started to land, she almost felt a sense of coming home.

There was a semi-private landing area off to the left side of the place and the shuttle easily touched down. Ben patted at his love's cheeks, clearing them of any remaining wetness and she looked down at his chest bashfully. He tipped her chin with the knuckle of his forefinger, her long and lovely lashes flicking up as her hazel eyes caught his dark but soft gaze. "You are everything to me," he whispered and then gently pressed his lips to hers.

Arlan helped to raise Rey's hood without compromising her perfectly primped hair. "You'll do splendidly, Empress," the female trooper said with encouragement and squeezed the hand of the young woman she dared to consider a friend.

"I've told you a hundred times, please call me Rey." Her tone wasn't harsh, but rather matched the smile that crossed her lips.

"You'll do splendidly, Rey," Arlan repeated, not only to use the Empress' name, but also to reassure her words as true.

"Thank you Arlan," Rey returned the slight squeeze of the other woman's hand. "Thank you for being so kind…for being a friend."

The guard beamed back with a smile of her own before placing her Empress…her friend's palm upon the back of Ren's waiting hand.

With all the grace of his upbringing, Ben led her from the shuttle. Her head was tilted down, completely concealed by the hood of her cloak but she took each step with confidence as if she was moving as he was. He took a brief moment to look down upon her veiled figure feeling utterly humbled in her mere presence.

Rey heard the footsteps of Ben's guards behind her but also some approaching them and tilted her head up just enough to see sets of legs covered in rust-colored pants with matching boots. "The Queen's guard," Ben said in a whisper.

The couple seemed to float up a low set of stairs before the floor beneath them changed from rough stone to polished marble and then they were coming to a halt. Rey lifted her head and before them was a young woman, or at least Rey assumed she was young but it was hard to tell under the opaque white makeup.

Thick golden robes were wrapped around the Queen and Rey wondered how she moved in them. A headdress that added at least eight inches on to her height sat upon a crown of black hair. Two red dots sat in contrast on her cheeks against the pale face makeup and the woman's lips were also stained a red color.

"Emperor Ren," the Queen said, dipping at the knees slightly and also inclining her head.

"Queen Pendrahan," Ben answered back, bowing at the waist. "May I present my Empress, Rey."

At the mention of her name, Rey lifted her hands and lowered her hood before also giving a shallow curtsey that she had seen many do in Ben's presence on the holonet. She wasn't sure the proper way to address a Queen and cursed herself for not asking Ben, so she just decided to be herself. "It's a pleasure to meet you," was her simple reply.

The Queen nodded to an attendant off to the side of the hall and a man stepped up to take the Empress' cloak. Pendrahan let her gaze roam over the other woman's form, taking in her proud shoulders under silk and lace, but also the way her hands clasped and fidgeted under the royal inspection. A smile broke across her face, "You did well Ben."

Rey choked on her own spit as the Queen used his birth name, thinking that she would have to deescalate a situation shortly. But she was surprised when Ben chuckled and ran his hand through his hair.

"I still have to pinch myself at times to believe that she actually accepts me," Ben said in reply and he watched Rey's wide eyes move between him and the Queen with anxiety and confusion. He smiled again, "Less formal introductions…Rey, this is my third cousin Irris."

"Cousins?" Rey asked in a choking tone.

Irris stepped forward, linking her arm through Rey's and they started to move down the hall as Ben and the guards trailed behind them. "Ben's grandmother's father and my grandmother's mother were siblings," she explained and then giggled. "Poor Ben had to put up with me when my family would visit Coruscant twice a year for the votes."

Through the bond, Ben showed her a memory of him as a lanky pre-teen having a small girl no older than five years pestering him relentlessly and Rey couldn't help but turn to look over her shoulder and give a snorting laugh.

Perhaps if Ben had told her about the family connection and how their visit would be more informal, she wouldn't have worried as much. She listened to Irris talk about how moody Ben was when they were growing up and Rey mused that the Queen was only a few years older than herself.

"After Leia separated from the Senate, I didn't hear much from that side of the family and boy was I surprised when Ben unveiled himself as Kylo Ren, Supreme Leader of the First Order and Emperor of the New Order." Irris turned to look over her shoulder as well, smiling kindly at her cousin, "He was always bossy and with that Skywalker blood, I shouldn't have expected anything less."

"That coming from someone who had managed to be the first Queen in the history of Naboo to be elected for a third term," Ben grumbled back.

"You are elected?" Rey asked with interest.

Irris nodded, "Even though Leia was the daughter of a past Queen and Ben the grandson of one, it does not give them any right to rule Naboo." She shot the Emperor a look, "Something that you should take note of."

Ben held up his hands, "Why would I want to take your world when I have an entire galaxy?"

The Queen hummed with a slight upturn of her lips. About a year ago when Kylo Ren had shown up on her palace steps, she had been prepared to die defending her world from the First Order, but when he had removed his helmet and she saw the crooked nose, dark eyes, and large ears of her cousin Ben Solo, she took pause.

It was only after they had sat in her private quarters and he had laid out his plan for his New Order, gushing about the woman who would stand by his side and make the galaxy great again, and asking for her support, not only as some of the only family he had left, but also as the beloved Queen of one of the most influential Mid Rim worlds.

She had returned the Naberrie estate back over to Ben, presented him with Padmé's crown jewels, and signed a peace treaty with him. The New Order had contacted with the world that used to turn out some of the finest pilots and the TIEs that now escort food transports were some of the first graduating class from the Naboo Aeronautic Academy.

The boom in the economics on Naboo and the peaceful and plentiful arrangement with the New Order had put to vote term limits for the monarch and Irris was voted into her third term just earlier this year. The Queen has been anxious to meet the woman who changed Kylo Ren's heart and even though Rey was draped in fine silk, she could tell that the woman came from a life of grit and struggle. Who else could keep her fanatical cousin in line, she mused.

They ended up walking into a cozy dining area, not the large banquet hall that Rey was expecting and Ben helped both of the ladies to their seats. As he watched his cousin and his love lean into each other, laughing and sharing stories, a place in his chest that was constricted tight seemed to ease.

He had always thought that Irris could be a helpful role model for Rey, help his Empress feel more comfortable in her role as a leader. While Arlan could be a confident and a general friend to Rey, Irris could help with the aspects that only effect woman in power. He knew Rey was worried about being judged, about being adored but questioned by trillions of people across the galaxy.

Their conversation during dinner was easy and Ben often watched in content silence as Rey and Irris chatted about the Rim worlds, the changes, and programs that Rey had implemented through the New Order, and Irris offered for Rey to attend any courses that interested her at Theed University.

Rey blushed at the mention of education and Irris stabbed at a piece of fruit on her plate, "Ben told me that you grew up on Jakku and have practical knowledge of Imperial ships." She threw the piece of melon into her mouth and chewed loudly, "That's better than what we learned a prep-schools. Who cares which is the prawn fork or how to waltz."

"I know how to waltz," Rey offered slightly raising her hand.

Irris' gaze slid to Ben who was blushing, "Of course you do…"

Ben shrugged in defense, "She was being taught to dance by a defector trooper."

"Liberated trooper," Rey corrected pointing her fork at Ben before she smiled at him fondly, "Ben's actually been a very patient teacher, in history and government, in the Force, and other things…" her voice trailed off as her chest heated.

Irris looked between them, pressing her lips together and a knowing quirk to her brow. "So when are you two going to make this thing public?"

Ben wanted to present his Empress to the galaxy right there on the steps of the palace, but he knew that it would always be Rey's choice so he turned and looked to her to answer. Rey looked down at her plate for a long moment before speaking, "Soon I hope. There needs to be a peaceful end to this war."

"Right," Irris nodded, taking a drink of wine. "You are the Resistance's Jedi that has foretold their victory and righteousness in this war."

Rey's face screwed up, "Is that what they are saying now?" She looked at Irris and then to Ben. She didn't pay too much attention to the Resistance propaganda since it was mostly only sent out through encoded or lower broadcast waves. "The Force is not with them," she said with conviction. Yet another indiscretion she will have to talk to Poe about.

"No one here is doubting that they are misguided," Irris said reaching out and placing a hand over Rey's.

"There have been some issues with the command that is going to lead them down the path of darkness," Rey said softly.

"The Force was not in the Naberrie bloodline so I don't assume to understand what it is like to be connected to everything in that way, but I have learned to put my trust in those who do have the Force." The Queen gave Rey's hand a squeeze before releasing it.

At this Ben stood, placing his napkin on top of the table. "I would like to show Rey some of the grounds," he announced. He walked over to Irris and bent to place a kiss on her cheek before going and holding his hand out for Rey to take. "My guards will stay here," his order was short.

Irris leaned around the floral arrangement at the center of the table, "I'm sure I can find them some sort of entertainment." Her gaze dragged over Davin who stood at the far end of the room.

Both Rey and Ben surpassed smiles and laughs having sensed the Queen's intentions and Davin's heated reaction to Irris' suggestion.

Exiting what Rey was later told was the Queen's private dining room, they meandered down hallways, and into room after room as Ben told her stories about the palace and the history of Naboo. Before long they ended up in the west wing of the palace and they went through a gilded arch and walked hand in hand down a staircase that wound around one of the many cylindrical annexes.

Something about descending into the dark depths of the palace calmed Rey. She didn't feel the need to speak or ask for the history of this part of the building, she just opened herself up to the Force, welcoming in the warmth of Ben's signature, but also feeling joy, love, worry, and fear within the stone walls around her.

They ventured down a long hallway, countless alcoves set into each side. Ben continued to hold her hand, not in the proper fashion where her hand just rests lightly on top of his, but he had his fingers intertwined with her, exchanging feelings and thoughts through the bond as their palms pressed together.

Suddenly Rey stopped, still facing forward down the hall but directly in front of an open arch that led into one of the alcoves. Just as the saber had called to her in Maz's castle, just as she had known what room and what chest to find the relic of Anakin Skywalker, she knew, the Force was telling her that something important was just beyond that stone arch.

Ben knew where they were going, knew which alcove to go to, which turns to make, but he wanted Rey to find it herself through the Force, and just like any other task she endeavors, she performs beautifully. But she was unsure, not knowing what lies through that arch and he squeezed her hand, a ghost of a smile on his lips as he turned and led her into the alcove.

What she noticed first was the breathtaking stained glass window that centered the room. It's shape mirrored the arch of the doorway and it depicted a woman in a light blue wrap dress and a golden headpiece. It almost looked as if a halo was encompassing the woman's head and Rey was taken by her soft expression, just almost smiling. Her hands were clasped in front of her hips and there were white flowers swirling around her in streaks of blue and green glass.

Finally, Rey looked down and there, lying under domed glass, as if in eternal sleep was Padmé. Ben came up behind her, placing his hand to the glass, closing his eyes and sucking in a deep breath before looking down upon Rey, "All of the Kings and Queens of Naboo and laid to rest here."

Rey looked back down at the glass-topped coffin and she was taken by the rosiness that still painted Padmé's cheeks, as she expected her to wake up at any second, not having been dead for close to fifty-five years. "Why is she like this?"

Ben knew that Rey had more than one meaning to her question, so he reached up to tuck a curl behind her ear before answering. "As Irris said, their family didn't have the Force, so their physical body stays behind. As for how she looks…no one knows. She is the only one of the hundred and seventeen rulers interred in the catacombs that looks as she did the day she passed."

Apart from the flush on Padmé's cheeks and the natural pout of her lips, her cascades of curled hair looked soft as silk, dotted with white flowers that had also stood the test of time, not a single wilting spot on any of their petals.

Her blue dress looked like flowing water under the brightest night sky, shimmering and glowing all its own. Her hands were folded just under her bust and Rey laid her hand on the glass over the noticeable bump of Padmé's abdomen under the layers of silk. Rey turned her face up to Ben, her brows pinched together.

"She carried twins almost to term and a woman's body does not magically return to the way it was prior to a pregnancy," Ben blushed at this knowledge. "Or so I'm told," he added as Rey's brows creased further. "Or they wanted it to appear as if the babies had died with her so that Vader would not come looking for his children."

"I don't remember my mother, even if I did have some time with her before being left on Jakku, but I feel for Luke and Leia in that aspect…"

Ben scoffed, "My mother was raised as a princess with a loving mother and father. Luke was given to his aunt and uncle…he was raised on Tatooine, but he still had a loving home to go to."

Rey's hand was still pressed to the glass, "But it is not what she would have wanted. I can't think of a mother who would willingly give away her children to be scattered to the galaxy."

"Your mother did," Ben didn't mean for it come out as it had, but the words left his lips before he could think. He had given up having sympathy for his mother and uncle a long time ago. Even if he had forgiven them, they were both raised with two parents, two people who loved them and guided them, and that was more than he was ever offered.

He had been honest with her about her parents back on the _Supremacy_ and he was being honest now, but that didn't stop the words from stinging. Rey knew she was nothing, she knew that she had been thrown away, without a second thought from her parents if she was to live or die, but she could empathize with Padmé on this level. "We can't repeat their mistakes, Ben," she decided to say quietly, knowing that anything else might spur them into a fight where neither would be the winner.

Ben hated hurting Rey, and while she had not verbally or physically lashed out at him, he could feel through their bond that his words had cut her. So he sighed and his shoulders slumped, he had brought Rey here to share more of his past, of his family's history. Since Rey's family was still a mystery, he was offering her his, he was offering to be her family, offering to make their own history.

As much as he sometimes wished against it, his children would be Skywalkers, and with that came the beautiful woman in the glass coffin, the crushed helmet upon the _Finalizer,_ the public legacy of Leia Organa and Luke Skywalker with the private disappointment, the shame of Kylo Ren and the redemption of Ben Solo. At times he wondered if Rey truly knew what she was getting into with loving him.

But his kind, his loving, his light Rey just reached up and cupped his cheek, running her fingers along the scar that marked the start of their unconventional courtship. "We won't make their mistakes," she said with more conviction and she needed him to believe her words as much as she did. She feared that he loved her just as fiercely as Anakin had loved Padmé and while Rey never thought that she deserved a love like that, it also was ingredients in the recipe for history to disastrously repeat itself.

So in the tomb of his grandmother, Padmé Amidala Naberrie Skywalker, a woman who ruled, who lead, who loved, who sacrificed, in a space that he hoped his grandfather had visited to see and learn from his mistakes, Ben now slowly bent, bringing his mouth to Rey's soft, waiting, yielding lips. "I won't make his mistakes."

His breath warmed her face as he spoke and then his lips were touching her forehead and Rey closed her eyes, feeling the truth in his speech within the bond. The love of Anakin and Padmé was forbidden and it burned hot and fast and in the end, it was their love and the misguidance of a Sith that was their downfall. Rey needs Ben to be stronger than Anakin against the Darkness that still lived within his soul.

In her entire life of relying only on herself, Rey never thought she would find it necessary to have another, but she needed Ben. She needed their bond, she needed to feel his dark pulse just under her skin. After feeling how hollow her soul was when she had closed herself off to the Force, she needed him to survive this war and have a long and fruitful life with her.

Pulling from his embrace, Rey moved back towards the archway, knowing their time with Padmé was over and that she had learned from the Force everything she needed to from past mistakes. As she turned back once more to admire the beauty of the Queen's resting place, she saw Ben bend and press his forehead to the glass that kept his grandmother in her everlasting sleep state.

When Ben was done saying a goodbye and a promise to Padmé, he jointed Rey who was waiting for him in the main hall of the catacombs. She slid her hand into his and spoke, "Do you think that Anakin and Padmé are together in the Force?"

Ben sighed, "I want to believe they are. While non-Force users leave their bodies behind, the energy of their souls has to pass back into the Cosmic Force, as it binds all energy from the Living Force together."

Rey looked up at him as they reached the stairs, "Will you find me in the Cosmic Force?"

He stopped their forward motion, she was already up on one step, putting her more at eye level with him and he cupped her cheeks, "We will have a long and happy life together in this realm, the Force has promised that to us. But if you are to join the Cosmic Force before me, I will not be far behind as I don't think my heart can beat without you."

A tear slipped from her eye feeling that she was just as vital to his survival as he was to hers and she pressed her forehead to his as they exchanged and wrapped themselves in a cocoon of their love. But the still form of Padmé flashed in Rey's mind, with her plump stomach and what it signified.

She swallowed and pulled away just enough to catch his gaze, "Ben, you have to promise me…if I die like Padmé…you can't leave our children alone in this galaxy. You can't turn to the dark like Vader, you can't join me in the Force, you have to stay with them, make sure they know the light and the dark, make sure they are gray, make sure they remember me and know how much I loved them."

Ben's heart was breaking and if not for her perfectly braided hair, he would run his hands through her soft locks, but he settled for stroking her cheeks, neck, and laying his left hand over her heart, feeling the strong beat under her ribs. "That is not our future Rey. You will be here to teach them, to love them, to watch them grow."

"But if I'm not…" Rey sniffled.

It pained him to vow something that would cause him so much agony, but he would promise her his dying breath if it would only take the misery out of her hazel eyes. "I will assure that our children know their mother and that they know the Force. They will not be Jedi and they won't be Sith, they will be in the between and their light will shine just as brilliantly as their mother's." He watched her shoulder relax at his words, "But once they are grown and settled, I will come to you. I will find you and we will live eternal in the Force."

Rey knew that was the best he could offer her and perhaps deep in her soul she felt the same, but with tear stained cheeks she just nodded and sealed their vow with a kiss that bound their promises within the Force, a power greater than any law.

* * *

 **AN: So I think I am going to try to keep my uploading schedule to Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Part 25 is written and I think Part 26 will see Rey returning to the Resistance. With the way I'm going, we will be looking at close to 35 parts.**

 **To those of you who came over from First Order of Business, thank you for hanging in there and I hope this story has helped some of your Reylo woes. As soon as this story is "complete", I will get back to work on FOOB, even though my Muse had demanded a follow up to this story.**

 **So thank you for reading if you have gotten this far and I think I have the kindest readers out there. Thank you for your love and support.**


	25. Part XXV

**Part XXV**

Shortly after coming up from the catacombs, Rey and Ben made their way back to the Queen's main living quarters. Irris had a meal brought in for the guards and they were sitting around the small table teasing Davin who looked a little worse for wear.

The Emperor and Empress both caught the guard's thoughts as they entered the room. Ben groaned and Rey snickered, thinking that she would have no issue with posting Davin on Naboo when she finally settled down on the family estate.

Irris was no longer in her thick dress or her pale makeup and her natural features were beautiful. If Rey looked at her from a distance she could almost see Padmé's delicate nose and lips on the Queen.

The sun had long ago gone down and Ben was itching to get Rey back to the house and out of her gown. Irris once again threaded her arm through Rey's and they walked ahead of Ben and the troopers, their head leaned in close to the other and their shoulder shaking with laughter.

Rey wrapped herself in her cloak once more and turned to the Queen, bowing ceremoniously before smiling when Irris pulled her in a tight hug, "I hope you will be back soon and when you are ready to come out and take credit for all the wonderful things you have done for this galaxy, I would be honored to stand with you in support…as family." Irris shifted her eyes to her cousin for a moment before she pulled out of the embrace.

"Thank you, Irris," Rey said, holding back tears from spilling from her eyes at the offer.

Ben took Rey's hands again and with her hood up, they scurried across the palace courtyard to the waiting shuttle. She tucked herself into a seat next to him, pressing herself into his side as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

When the hull door closed is when the razzing started, "So when should we start to call you, Your Highness?" Cale shot over to Davin.

"Actually he wouldn't have a title," Ben interjected, his tone also light and teasing. "He would purely be a trophy husband."

"We just talked," Davin tried to argue.

The entire shuttle erupted into laughter. Even the two pilots who were on staff with the Queen joined in from the cockpit.

Poor Davin blushed six shades of red and then folded his arms across his chest. If it had been Cale that caught the Queen's attention he would be bragging about the conquest. Tyris would never think about it because he only had eyes for Arlan. But Davin was a gentleman, maybe more so than Ben, and he refused to dishonor a lady such as Irris, even if she wasn't a Queen.

"Well, I think the Empress and I have some _talking_ of our own to do tonight."

Rey lightly slapped at Ben's chest for such speech, even though she knew that her physical relationship with the Emperor was not a secret, she didn't want Ben bragging to his guards about it. She huffed out a sigh, "At lease Davin knows when to keep his mouth shut and as it turns out, I'm not in the mood for _talking_."

Cale started to make an 'ooh' sound at Rey's comeback, but Ben cut him a look that had him muttering, "Sorry Master," instead and all the while Arlan was quietly laughing into her hand.

As soon as the shuttle landed, Rey was making her way to the hull door and walking quickly towards the home in a swirl of blue silk and gray wool. She wasn't particularly mad at Ben for his comment, but she felt that perhaps he would need to do some groveling before she would engage in any sort of _conversation_ with him.

"Good luck, sir," Arlan said between tight lips, attempting to suppress a laugh as she watched Ren hurry after the Empress.

"Rey!" Ben called out once he entered the home. Through their bond he knew where she was, but he still felt the need to verbalize his desire to find her. He walked down the short hall to their quarters, rushing in and closing the door behind him.

She stood in the center of the room, unclipping the cloak from around her neck and threw the heavy fabric on a low bench at the foot of the bed. Rey sensed Ben standing across the room and could feel his gaze traveling down her body, reaching out to his mind she saw how much he wished to rid her of the dress and she smirked over her shoulder at him.

Ben took the playful upturn of her lips as permission as he felt her graze his thoughts, so he stepped forward with outstretched hands. Rey turned with her own hand raised and unbelievably he was held in place by the Force.

They had practiced Force holds during some of their sparrings and she was able to keep him in place for a few seconds at most before he would over take her, but now as he tried to move, going as far as gritting his teeth and straining his mind to the point that a bead of sweat formed on his brow, he remained unmoved.

Rey smirked again before turning all the way towards him and swaying her hips with the three steps it took to stand within arms length of him. "Ben Solo," she chastised. "This is the finest thing I have ever worn and I will not allow you to pull it to shreds." She took one more step forward and grabbed his chin between her thumb and forefinger, "Am I understood?"

Ben felt the hold on him relax just a bit and he was able to swallow thickly, "Yes."

"Yes, what?" She quirked up one eyebrow.

An expression of surprise played on his face for just a breath before a smile tried to pull at his lips, "Yes, Empress." He saw a glimpse of her thoughts through the bond and he groaned thinking about fully submitting to her. His powerful, sexy, beautiful Empress wanted to command him and he whole hearted would allow her just that.

"If I free you, will you be a good boy and do as you are told?"

He swallowed again, feeling his cock already responding to all of the possibilities of this role play. "Yes, Empress."

Rey relaxed her mind and the Force hold that she had over him. He had fought her at first and she wanted to stagger on her feet with the amount of energy it took to hold him, but instead, she just swayed her hips as she turned, "Remove my dress," she commanded. "And there better not be a single button out of place."

With fingers trembling more out of excitement than fear, he started at the base of her neck, slipping the delicate silk covered button from its loop. Looking down her back he cursed this dress and prayed for a zipper.

But no, thirty-two buttons later, Rey's creamy and bare back was exposed to him. Unable to help himself, he bent forward and placed an open mouth kiss to the place where her neck met her shoulder and he thought that he felt her shiver under his lips.

Having to bite her lip to suppress the moan that wanted to escape her, she cursed that he knew all of the places to touch her that made her melt. But instead, she resolved herself and took a small step forward, "Did I give you permission to put your lips upon me?"

Ben smirked, like a schoolboy getting in trouble for sneaking into the girl's locker room, feeling ashamed but knowing it was completely worth it. "No, Empress."

"I asked you to remove my dress," Rey said shortly gazing back over her shoulder at him.

He reached up and hooked his fingers under the lace cap sleeves and pulled the gown off her shoulders. Instead of letting the fabric fall to her feet, he dragged the fabric down her body and dropped to one knee behind her. As he lowered himself, he made sure his face was within an inch of the curves of her back and rear.

She wanted to shiver again. He was undressing her at an agonizing pace and she could feel his hot breath as he exposed more and more of her back. As the dress crested her hips, she almost thought that she felt the tip of his nose trace the edge of her lace panties, but had to grip her hands into fists as she felt a heated exhale ghost between her thighs.

While he was not directly touching her, he was guiding the lace over her hips and down her legs, as light as if he was teasing her with a feather and he continued to pant out heavy breaths over her goose-fleshed skin.

Once the dress was down past her knees, Rey stepped out of it, unwilling to let Ben throw her off this game that she had started. Still, with her back to him, she spoke, "Hang the dress back in the bag in the fresher and when you come back, I want everything but the pants off."

Ben took a second to let his gaze drift from the short heels she was wearing, up her toned calves, to her almost quivering thighs, and to the scrap of lace that disappeared it to the clef of her rear. "Yes, Empress," he finally answered, rising from the floor with the gown in his hands and strode to the fresher.

He had never hung up a dress and stripped of his clothing so quickly in all his life. Just as she had requested, he was bare foot and bare-chested as he walked back into their sleeping quarters. Rey was at the far side of the room, sitting on a low ottoman that was situated in front of a full length mirror.

The room was dim, only ambient lights built into the moldings at the top of the room illuminated the pale gold ceiling. Rey watched him exit the fresher through the reflection in the mirror, his toned chest almost glowing and she had to squeeze her thighs together to get some relief.

She was a vision of beauty in midnight blue heels, panties, and the necklace that still rested upon her chest twinkled with each of her heaving breaths. He watched her pert breasts through the reflection and he longed to run his tongue over them. While he was in the fresher, he may have needed to shift his erection as it strained against his leather pants. "What does my Empress ask of me?" His voice was deep but yielding.

Now it was Rey's turn to swallow thickly. "Unpin my hair," her voice almost cracked.

Surprisingly this was something that Ben was rather good at. After Han left, it was only Ben and his mother and perhaps she would have been more satisfied with a daughter, but he had always been eager for attention and praise, so he often helped her when she returned home from long days at the Senate or out at galas and parties.

So with a skill that should be lost on someone with such large hands and fingers, he felt along the crowing braid, finding where it had been pinned in and started to extract them one by one, massaging the pads of his fingers against her scalp not only to free the intricate twists but also to ease the tension that his mother always spoke of when having her hair pulled too tight by the grooming droid.

This time Rey couldn't help herself and she did moan as he massaged her scalp. These days she never did more to her hair than just a single bun or ponytail and the braids and pins had almost caused her head to ache.

Slowly Ben gathered a pile of pins on the small table that sat next to the mirror and now he was able to fully run his fingers through her hair and he felt her head lull under his touch. "Does that feel good, Empress?"

"Yes," she answered in a moaning whisper.

Ben smiled, "How else might I make you feel good?" His words ghosted past her ear and when she turned to look over her shoulder at him, her hair already looked sex rumpled and Ben wanted to reach down and adjust his pants again.

"Come here," Rey said, pointing to the floor in front of her. When Ben started to shift, she spoke again, "Crawl."

On hands and knees, Ben stalked around the ottoman, coming to kneel before her. "Remove my shoes," she commanded, lifting her foot and placing it on his chest.

The heel of her shoe slightly dug into his skin but he wasn't bothered by it and actually welcomed a little bit of pain. Reaching up a hand, he stabilized her leg by holding on to her ankle as he slid the silk shoe from her left foot. Moving ever so slowly, he placed her bare foot onto his thigh and then waited for her to place her right foot upon his chest.

Once both of her bare feet were resting on the cool leather of his pants Rey looked down on him, "I want you to kiss your Empress."

He started to shift up on his knees, bringing his face up to hers but he was halted when her toes came back in contact with his chest.

"No," she corrected. "From here," she reached down to touch her ankle, "to here," she trailed her finger up to her knee.

Ben relaxed back onto his heels, "Yes, Empress." Taking the foot that was still pressed into his peck, he held her gaze and kissed at the bony bump of her ankle. As his lips moved up her leg, so did his large hand at the back of her calf until he was cradling the back of her knee and placing a sucking kiss to the skin covering the joint.

Rey's breath was now shallow and the skin all over her body was flush. "Other leg," she panted.

Repeating his affections on her left leg only differed by him dragging his tongue up the few inches to her knee before placing another sucking kiss, releasing her skin with a smacking sound. "Is there anywhere else my Empress would like me to kiss?" He still held her leg as he looked up at her with his question.

She could only nod, moving her hand to trace the area of skin from her knee up to her core.

Starting on her right leg again, Ben kissed, nipped, and sucked his way up her thigh. He was able to smell her arousal though the lace of her panties and he made sure to blow a hot breath across her center before he went to work on her other leg.

Once he had lavished both of her legs, he rested his large hands atop her legs, drawing his thumbs in circles on her inner thighs just inches from her core, her muscles shook under his touch. "You have been so good for your Empress," Rey tried to steel her voice but she was so keyed up she was ready to beg for release. "Perhaps you deserve a reward."

Ben smirked up at her, "What sort of reward does my Empress have in mind?"

With a calming breath in, she squared her shoulders, "I will permit you to kiss me again…"

"Where Empress?" Ben already started to move his hands higher up on her legs, his thumbs now pressing into the skin on either side of her center.

Rey reached down, carding her fingers into the hair at the front of his head and pulled his face towards her core, only stopping when he nose grazed her clit through the now soaked lace. "There."

In a teasing manner, he lightly pressed a kiss to her core, pulling back and threading out his tongue, he could taste her on his lips already and he was hungry for her, but this was her game and he was going to make her command him to do her will.

"Again," Rey breathed, pulling at his hair. When he dipped down, she rolled her hips, the wet lace rubbing against her clit, giving her friction but she didn't want that, she wanted his full lips and his warm tongue.

"What do you want Empress?" Ben said, his lips millimeters from her core.

Rey panted and spread her legs wider, "Make your Empress come with those beautiful lips."

Ben had been kind and careful with her dress, perfectly hung in the garment bag in the fresher to be worn another day, but those deep blue panties had another fate as he moved his hands up to where they sat against her hip bones and he pulled, ripping the delicate and most likely expensive fabric.

She squeaked in surprise as she felt a tug on her panties but he wasn't pulling them off, he was _ripping_ them off, and her core pulsed with excitement. He wanted her as much she wanted him and before she knew it, her center was bare for him, a scrap of blue lace thrown off to the side of the room.

There was no more teasing, no cat and mouse, his Empress had given him a command and it was one he intended on fulfilling beyond her expectations. So he went right for her slick and swollen lips, sucking them into his mouth and severing the taste of her.

When he first laid his mouth upon her, Rey moaned and fell back to be only propped up on her elbows. In the mirror, she could see the muscles in his back shift as he pushed her legs apart and grasped onto her hips. Ben lapped at her as if she was the only source of his life-sustaining nectar and as much as she wanted this to go on forever, she knew that it wouldn't be long before she crested.

As he moved up to circle her clit with his tongue, Ben looked up at her. His Rey, his light, his Empress was pink-cheeked, breathless with desire, and draped in royal jewels. He sucked on her clit at the very sight and her legs jumped off the floor at the sensation. Laying his arms along her thighs, he gripped her hips but also held her legs down, focusing all of the stimulation back to her core.

She had not given him permission to use his fingers, so he ran his tongue down her slit before pushing it deep into her center, curling the tip trying to reach the spot that he knew made her scream. His nose was pressed into her clit and he wasn't too modest to use the tip of it to continue to flick at her sedative bud.

He felt her start to clamp down, knowing that her release was building so after a few more flicks of his tongue that was buried deep in her, he moved in one quick swipe back up to her clit, alternating between flat side to side motions to flicking at her hood. When she was keening and arching off the ottoman, he sucked on her clit, hard, and she fell with both hands gripped into his hair.

Only when her body started to jerk from his continued attentions did he release some of the pressure and placed light kisses around her core, licking a few times at the new surge of moisture that her orgasm had produced.

Rey felt so relaxed, her body felt boneless as her muscles continued to spasm beyond her control. She felt his mouth still petting between her legs and her body was already starting to coil again.

"Empress," his deep voice questioned.

Sitting up just slightly, Rey gazed down at him with pleasure glazed eyes, "Hum…"

He reached his tongue out again, flicking at her swollen clit and he smirked when her body jumped. "I'm going to fuck you now."

His gaze was still hungry and Rey's whole body tensed. "Gods yes," fell from her lips as she craved to be filled with him. While his mouth has been attentive and brought her pleasure, she had felt empty and her skin tingled to feel his hard length slide within her.

Ben stood, pulling at the closer of his pants and almost sighing when his cock was afforded some extra room. He stepped out of his pants and then sank back down to his knees. She was spread out so beautify before him that he wouldn't dream of moving her.

Grabbing at the back of her neck, he sat her up and crashed his lips to hers, wanting her to taste her slick in his mouth and she moaned as she licked at his tongue. Letting his hands now freely explore her body, he passed his thumb over her taut nipple and she bit at his lower lip, digging her fingers into the flesh at his hips, trying to pull them closer together.

He laid his hand, flat-palmed between her breasts and pushed her back down, satisfied when she whimpered at the loss of his lips on hers. Once she was again laid out before him, he placed his hands over her breasts, kneading at the tender tissue and pulling and pinching her rosy nipples. When she was once again bowing off the ottoman, he moved his hands down the sides of her ribcage, over her hips, down her thighs, until he was gripping her calves.

Pulling her legs upwards, he crossed her ankles and set them at his right shoulder. "Look at the mirror."

Now he was the one making the commands and she was helpless but to follow them, so she rolled her head to the side and saw the reflection of them both, soft lights from above casing shadows over his muscular body and Rey groaned at the mere sight of him. But it was some movement that caught her attention as she watched him wrap his left arm around her legs, holding them in place against his chest as he used his right hand to grasp his cock and run the head of if down her slit, coating it in her juices.

Rey glanced up in the mirror to Ben's face, as he was studying her every expression. "Watch," he spoke again, placing a kiss to her ankle that rested at his collar bone. Only when her gaze slid back down, did he push forward.

She wanted to let her eyes roll back in her head with the feel of him, but she couldn't tear her gaze away from their reflection. Rey watched the length of him, which she was still surprised somehow fit into her slight body, fill her until his toned stomach was pressed flush to the back of her tights.

Leaning forward, he bent her legs further towards her chest, thankful that she was flexible, and he reached the fingers of his right hand around the back of her neck, rubbing the pad of his thumb along the middle of her throat. When she turned her head to look up at him, he moved his thumb to press into the side of her chin and guided her face back to the side so she looking into the mirror. "Watch," he said again as he slowly pulled out of her until only his tip was dipped within her.

When he saw her gaze move from his face to where they were just barely joined, Ben snapped his hips forward and slammed into her.

Rey whimpered, expressing something between pleasure and pain, her eyes wide at the sight of Ben sheathing himself completely within her. She squeezed her core muscles, feeling his size as he stretched her and she shivered at that feeling of fullness that she so craved. "More," her voice was muffled as Ben still held her jaw in place, not allowing her to move her gaze from their joined bodies.

"As you wish, Empress," he cooed before pulling out again and slamming home.

True to his word, Ben fucked her. He gripped his fingers into the toned skin of her thighs, anchoring his other hand around the back of her shoulder as he pressed the heel of his hand into her collar bone. His thrusts were unrelenting and Rey had to grip the ottoman beneath her to keep from being pulled from it as Ben snapped their bodies together again and again.

Her voice was becoming raw as she cried out her pleasure. Sometimes she didn't understand who she was when she was with Ben. Little Rey from Jakku was not one to take charge, Rey of the Resistance was a passive observer, but Rey, Empress to Kylo Ren, would take on four well trained guards without a moment's hesitation, she would command the Knights of Ren and fleets of TIEs, she would ask the man she loves to bring her pleasure with his mouth, and she would surrender her body to him, for he knew it better than she.

So Rey continued to watch the mirror and with each thrust, he hit the spot deep within her and as he pulled out, the rim on his tip would catch at her patch of ribbed skin, sending sparks up her spine. Then he would push back in and the pleasure cycle continued to build.

Sweat was dripping down Ben's face and he desperately needed to push his hair back as it clung to his forehead and cheeks but he refused to break his pace. "Empress," he panted, his abs staring to tighten. "I need you to come."

"Now?" Rey questioned as she maintained her gaze on the mirror, watching him pound into her.

"Yes," he sharply thrust into her. He pulled at her legs, shifting her hips up for his next advance. "Now," he demanded, moving his hand from her shoulder to her breast, pinching her nipple with the amount of pressure that usually had her peaking.

His efforts didn't disappoint and Rey was gasping and saying his name like a prayer as her core clamped down then started to flutter. Her hips bucked against his groin and with a few more pumps, he jerked his hips once more and spilled deep within her.

Ben let her legs fall apart with her exhaustion and he crumpled against her chest with his own fatigue. "Rey…" he breathed across her breasts. "That was…" he was at a loss for words.

"That is something we will need to try again," Rey finished for Ben, his head bouncing on her chest as she laughed out of sheer bliss and contentment.

The chuckle that left him came from deep in his chest, "As you wish, Empress."

* * *

 **AN: Who says you can't have a whole chapter of smut...not this girl!**

 **I hope you all enjoyed and will look forward to the update on Friday.**


	26. Part XXVI

**Part XXVI**

When his breathing was a little more controlled, Ben pressed his lips upon her breast bone, tasting the salt of her skin. Snaking his hands under her shoulders, he pulled Rey up until she was sitting sweetly before him. Next, he moved his palms along her back and rested them at the base of her neck, working the clasp of the necklace, pulling the heavy jewels from her chest and setting the piece next to the pile of hairpins on the small table.

He scooped her up, kissing at her shoulder as she wrapped her legs around his hips, feeling their combined slick pressed just below his navel. With one arm wrapped around her rear, he used his free hand to throw back the thick blankets on their bed before settling them both into the soft mattress.

With a snap of his fingers, the lights in the room went dark and he pulled the covers over them, pulling her closer into his chest as he rested his chin upon the crown of her head.

They dreamlessly, blissfully, and contently slept through the night.

The next morning Ben woke alone but he could feel that Rey was close by and he sleepily shuffled to the fresher. The floor of the shower was wet when he stepped in to begrudgingly wash her scent from his skin.

He found Tyris in the kitchen, pointing with a spatula to a fresh pot of caf as Arlan sat at the bench, popping pieces of cut up fruit into her mouth before smiling and muttering a "Good morning, sir."

Ben poured himself a generous cup of caf and looked over Tyris' shoulder to see what he was cooking up. "What is my Empress up to this morning?"

"She's out in the garden with Davin and Cale," Arlan offered.

He hummed in response, pushing off the edge of the countertop where he had been leaning before he started towards the terrace doors. "Can you make me one with tomatoes and cheese?" Ben asked of Tyris has he passed.

"Yes, sir," the trooper answered, cracked a few more eggs into a bowl.

Walking out onto the stone terrace, he could still feel the chill of the prior night under his bare feet, the sun only cresting over the foothills to the east. Bending slightly and leaning his elbows on the carved railing he looked out over the garden and smiled.

This could be his life. He would stand in this spot every morning and watch his wife and children play in the rows of flowers and herbs. He could fall asleep every night with his Rey tucked in beside him and he could be assured that she would be safe while he was away not only because she was just as powerful in the Force, but also because he had surrounded them with people who genuinely loved her.

He has a cousin that would help Rey rule, be there when his Empress felt overwhelmed. He had Arlan who would always assure that Rey had someone besides himself to confide in. Davin and Tyris would treat Rey with respect and protect her at the risk of their own lives. Cale would go on to the Knights, but he would always remember Rey as the small woman who pulled a saber on him the first time they met, and for that Cale would accept her command as if it came from his own Master.

Ben was pulled from his daydream when he heard Davin call out, "Empress…please you don't have to…"

Taking another sip of his caf, Ben started down the stone steps to the gardens and came upon a scene that had him almost spitting out the savory roast.

Rey stood in a ready stance with her hand outstretched and a determined look on her face. At the other end of her efforts was Cale, held in place and suspended over five feet in the air with the use of the Force. Davin continued to plead with her to let his fellow trooper down.

"What's going on here?" Ben asked, still holding his caf mug casually and a slight smile on his lips. He would be lying if he said he wasn't amused and wondered what Cale had done to anger his Empress so.

"I told him to stop and he wouldn't," Rey protested, as she dipped her toe into the Darkness to maintain her focus.

"It was my fault, Emperor," Davin tried to explain. "I shouldn't have let my feelings get the better of me."

Rey rolled her eyes and lowered her hand, letting the arrogant Knight in training fall to the ground with a huff. "You are not to blame Davin. If Cale could learn when to shut his mouth, then we wouldn't be in this situation."

Cale picked himself up off the gavel covered path, brushing the small rocks from his clothing and where they pressed uncomfortably into his palms from when he broke his fall. "I'm sorry Master. I was teasing Davin and apparently took it too far."

"Don't apologize to me," Ben said, motioning with his mug over towards where Rey and Davin stood. "Apologize to your Empress and your brother."

Rey stood up straight, her shoulders back and her chin held high, her gaze steeled across the rows of herbs. Ben thought that she had never looked more like an Empress than in this moment, even in her ordinary leggings and dirt stained tunic. It was as if the small act of standing up for someone in peril, this personal representation of how she was helping the downtrodden of the galaxy, somehow gave her the confidence to rule and it made her shine.

Cale's gaze fell to his feet before he made his way around the low hedges of rosemary and basil. Standing in front of his Master's mate, he dropped down to one knee as if he was addressing Ren. "Empress," he started.

"Look at me," Rey interrupted. She didn't want him to bow his head in assumed shame, she wanted to see the lesson learned in his eyes.

His blue eyes came up to meet hers and he spoke again. "Empress. I sincerely apologize for defying a direct order and causing you distress."

Rey scoffed, "You should be apologizing for being an ass."

The man on his knees didn't have to verbalize his reply, Rey read it loud and clear on his expression and in his mind, ' _I'm not sorry for who I am_ ' and perhaps she couldn't fault him for being consistent. Maybe he needed the cocky attitude to compensate for the death wish he signed when agreeing to become a Knight.

So Rey just rolled her eyes, "I will expect more of you in the future." Next, she sighed and her shoulders slumped, now not only feeling the effects of using that much power but also knowing that she had let her temper get the most of her. "Make amends with your brother and then join us in the house for breakfast before we need to depart."

She moved across the garden, stopping in front of Ben long enough for him to cup her cheek and lean down to press a kiss to her forehead before she walking into the house to get cleaned up for their meal.

He watched Cale saunter up to Davin, they each clasped a hand on the other's forearm, much how Ben had done with Alister, a gesture of solidarity and brotherhood. "You know I'm just jealous right?" Cale offered.

Davin's face glowed red again, "Well maybe if you took the Empress' advice and wasn't such an ass, you would have more luck with women."

Cale smirked, "I'll keep that in mind."

Ben was satisfied and called out to them, "We shouldn't keep Her Imperial Majesty waiting," and he turned to walk back up the stairs and into the home, a place that from this day forth would belong to Rey, hers to run and command.

Tryis and Alran had done a splendid job setting up the formal dining area for their party of six. Along with the cut fruit and omelets, Alran commented that the basket of baked goods had been sent over by the palace earlier in the morning.

"That's what caused all the commotion," she whispered to Ren. "There was a note for Davin from the Queen delivered with it."

Ben hummed, thinking that his cousin could do worse and if he had his way, he would have Rey back on Naboo within half a solar cycle, bearing his name and with any luck through the Force, expecting their first child. He wouldn't mind taking on a new guard unit, knowing that having Tryis, Arlan, and Davin around would bring Rey joy.

At the beginning of their courtship, even as far back as Starkiller, Ben had been jealous of the defector trooper Finn. FN 2187 had abandoned his post, betrayed the people who fed and clothed him. Through the Trooper Information Act, Ben had found out that Finn was surrendered to the Order by his parents, who were too poor to care for another child. But Rey had found a kinship with Finn, a common bond in their lacking childhoods, and because Ben had prominent parents and a bloodline that made many assume his life was close to perfect, Rey had at first found him unrelatable.

Under Snoke's rule, guards would never dream of acting as Ren's do, but he wanted them to have their own personalities, he wanted to show that he was different than those who came before him. He wanted them to feel like a family so that they would be loyal and protective to the utmost degree. He wanted to give Rey something comparable to what she was giving up to be with him.

On one late night, Rey had asked him about a place in the New Order for some of her friends within the Resistance, noting that Finn wasn't as fanatical as Poe and she suspected he would settle down once he was married to Rose. She asked about having a place for Finn on a committee for Trooper Reform. Ben had said that he would think about it, but he wasn't sure if he could trust the trooper he had on multiple occasions called a traitor and attempted to kill.

But now as he looked around the dark wood table as the Naboo sun spilled though the wall of windows and a gentle breeze blew off the lake, he felt like he was so close to having everything he had works for over the past year. Ever since he made the decision to forsake his Master and take a chance on the budding connection between himself and Rey…ever since that moment he had only dreamt of this.

There were no remaining hurt feelings as they enjoyed their meal and before long Arlan was announcing that they needed to start packing up the shuttle. In their quarters, Rey picked up the necklace and walked into the fresher with it, asking Ben where the case was for it.

She ran her fingers over the gem. "I will need to leave this on Coruscant," her tone was almost remorseful. It was easy for her to explain away the extra kyber that she had stashed in her bunk room, but the ruby and diamonds would be difficult to make excuses for.

It was at this time that she realized how much she was abandoning on Coruscant. It was as if she had two lives…it wasn't just leaving behind the gowns, jewels, or a penthouse apartment. Rey would be leaving a piece of herself on the city world, a most precious part that she was entrusting Ben with for safe keeping.

Rey hated that they had to be apart, but she refused to let more innocents die for a now inconsequential cause. She was even more resolved but anxious for her new life to start, to be with Ben, to spend more time on Naboo, and to take her rightful place where the Force had known she belonged all along.

With a heavy heart and tears in her eyes, they lifted off from the grassy plane just outside of the manor. Once Rey could no longer see their stately home at the edge of the deep blue lake, she retired to their quarters.

Ben joined her and tucked a sprig of lavender into the braided bun at the top of her head. She cried harder, missing the sharp but soothing aromas of her garden. He wiped her tears and pulled her to their bed where he propped himself up on a mass of pillows before cuddling her to his chest.

He allowed her to cry, feeling her grief, not necessarily at the loss of something, but more at having to give something up that she desperately wanted. As they moved into the first of the three hyperspace lanes that would bring them back to Coruscant, Rey was able to sigh and catch her breath.

She couldn't ask for a better partner in life as he held her and allowed her to catch up on her stories on the holonet. In a soft voice she explained the plot and which characters were involved with each other, and how Owen had been with Val in season one and two but they broke up and now he was with Jequin and their love was epic.

Placing kisses to the top of her head and humming at all the right spots in her dialogue, remembering that his mother used to mock women who had no other aspirations than to plunge themselves into the ' _mindless dribble_ ' of the daytime stories. But for Rey, who was deprived of an upbringing of privilege, these shows were an escape, a peek into what life may have been if she was had grown up in the Core, attended school, and university.

Rubbing his finger tips along her bare arm, his mind was a million parsecs away when he heard her gasp and his attention was drawn back. Craning his neck, he saw her eyes brimming with tears and her hand was pressed over her mouth. Looking down at the datapad screen that was displaying her show, he evaluated the scene.

The man, Owen, and his…girlfriend Jequin were standing on a rocky shore, waves crashing behind them, and Owen was in the middle of a long-winded speech about their relationship and then he realized the reason for Rey's reaction.

Owen dropped to one knee, pulling a small box from his pocket and presenting Jequin with a large diamond ring, the filming lights catching the stone just so and it gave off a brilliant sparkle. Ben wanted to roll his eyes, but Rey was so in raptured that he dare not tease her about it.

Rey felt almost as invested in the make-believe relationship as she was in her connection to Ben and both she and Rose had been waiting months for this moment. She told Rose that Owen would propose, but her friend believed that it wouldn't last and the show would only do it for the ratings.

But it didn't matter, her heart was alight with what had just transpired between her favorite literature professor and fashion designer. Rey couldn't wait to meet up with Rose later that day and gush over how romantic it was.

Coruscant came back into view sooner that both Rey and Ben would like and Rey watched Arlan walk her things back into the apartment. It was now that she truly found her life divided.

Ben took her cloak when they were back in the flat and she walked to their room. She pulled off her leggings and tunic, went to the fresher and ran her hand along the cold stone of the counter, tracing the silver hair brush and the rim of her sink. She washed her hands with the rose scented soap. She pulled her old clothes out of the closet, threading silk gowns between her fingers before she pulled on her scratchy linen pants.

As she stood in front of the large windows in their sleeping quarters, watching the sun dip below buildings and holding her arm wraps in her hands, Ben stepped up behind her. Folding his arms across her chest, he pulled her back into him, kissing the top of her head.

"We're happy…aren't we?" Her voice was small.

Ben's expression was solum, "Yes my love. We are happy."

"Then why do I keep going back?" She spoke towards the window and then twisted her head up to try to meet his eyes. "Why do I keep leaving?"

Exhaling he just held her tighter, "You can't ask me things like that…"

"Why?" She fully twisted in his arms now, resting her chin on his chest and looking up at his narrow face.

"Because if you doubt your purpose with the Resistance there is no reason for me to let you go back."

Rey buried her face into his chest, hiding her smile. "And how would you detain me?"

Reaching his hands down, he cupped her rear and pulled her up his body until she had her legs wrapped around his middle and her face was level with his. He loved the way she squeaked when he surprised her with his strength and desire. "I would lock you away on Naboo, or perhaps Mustafar if you were particularly naughty with attempting to escape my clutches," he gripped at her rear for good measure.

"What would you do to keep me?" Rey said sweetly, twisting the hair at the back of his neck around her fingers.

He smirked and kissed her waiting lips as she looked at him through her lashes. "Not anything we have time for now."

Rey sighed, knowing he was right and she slid down his body once more. Both of their postures showed how miserable they were with the fact that Rey was once again leaving. She packed her bag and with a helping but reluctant hand, Ben carried it for her.

Walking around the apartment, Rey ventured into the room just off the entry, the room with the two suns. She imagined a bassinet in the corner and toy box by the door. She could see herself in the rocker, holding a swaddled bundle. Ben would look at her holding their child like he as seeing the world anew.

She gazed over to the door where Ben was standing and as she shared her vision with him and he smiled, showing his own vision of throwing her over his shoulders and keeping her in his bed until the end of time.

The sun was starting to set on the city and Rey needed to make her way south to pick up Finn and Rose. "Thank you for making us a home," Rey said as she stepped up to him.

"Where ever you are, in my arms or across the stars, I will be your home just as you will be mine."

They kissed and he stroked at her cheek before taking her hand, retrieving her bag from the entry and they made their way up to the landing pad. Just like their other meetings, her shuttle was fully stocked with everything that had been on her supply list. Even though the New Order was still at war with the Resistance, Ben made sure to send her back with enough to sustain the health and welfare of the troops living in the base on Dantooine.

As she started to flip switches and warm the engines, Rey turned to Ben who was leaning on the bulk head just behind her seat. "When do I get to stop saying goodbye to you?"

His smile didn't quite make it to his eyes as he spoke, "You know where to find me when you are ready."

She felt his unease in the bond and she knew that each time she left it hurt him. Even though she had been the one abandoned alone on a dustbowl of the planet, Ben too had been left behind time and time again. His mother and father picked politics and adventure over their son and now Rey was choosing the Resistance over Ben, the person she loved perhaps even more than the Force.

"No my love," he said, catching the tear that started to fall. "You are choosing peace and balance. Our separation is only temporary. We have the rest of our lives to be together. We will unify the galaxy, bring forth new teachings for Force uses." He wiped at her cheek again as more tears started to fall. "We will be a family…one day."

"Soon," Rey said into the small space between their lips.

"Yeah…soon," he repeated right before Rey gripped his coat, pulling them together as she poured all of her sorrow, hope, and promise into their kiss. When they parted he searched her face, finding that she too was already anticipating the next time they could see each other and he smiled down at her. "Until next time sweetheart."

She liked this better than goodbye, "Until next time."

Tears slid from her eyes as she took the shuttle off the landing pad, pressing her fingers tips to her lips before waving at him through the windscreen. For a moment she wished that even if they couldn't be together at this time, perhaps the bond could remind open so that she could always feel him near.

She had fifteen minutes to composer herself. Of all the times they had separated, this was the most difficult. Rey wasn't just leaving her love, her other half, her Emperor…she was leaving her home, a promise of a wonderful future. While she had always yearned for a home, a place of belonging, it also tore at her to have finally found such a place, such a person, and to have to leave it all behind.

 _Until next time…_ rang in her mind and that was the only way she was able to dry her tears and temporarily mend her heart.

True to her pervious thought, when she picked Finn and Rose up on the public landing platform they both gushed over the fictional engagement of Owen and Jequin. Finn just rolled his eyes and strapped into a jump seat, resting his head back and closing his eyes while Rose settled into the co-pilot seat next to her friend.

While Rey was happy to be reunited with her friends she was dreading returning to Dantooine, dreading facing Poe and watching him smugly regale the story of how he shot an unarmed man. Now that she was not trying to take in every ounce of her time with Ben, Rey was left to think, to worry about what the future held for herself with the Resistance.

Once they were off world and in the hyperspace lane Rey turned towards Rose and Finn, "What are your plans after the war?"

"What do you mean?" Finn asked, leaning forward between the seats the ladies sat in.

"I mean," Rey started wringing her hands in her lap, "this war can't go on forever. The New Order is not the First Order, and it appears that most of our grievances have been addressed. If Poe is willing to sit down for an accord, we could end this war…get on with our lives."

"Is that what you want to do?" Finn's tone was accusing. "Get on with your life?"

Rey sighed, seeing his mind, Finn still felt he had a score to settle with Kylo Ren. "I want a home that isn't in a military base. I want a family…a real chance at happiness."

"We all want that," Rose interjected, reaching a hand out for her husband. She glowed internally thinking that she was actually married and she could not fault Rey for wanting the same.

"We do?" Finn questioned his wife.

Rose gave an incredulous look. "I grew up in a war zone, I followed Paige into a war zone, and I continue to live in a war zone. As adults, we should always want better for our children."

"Children?" Finn said, practically going pale as his voice cracked.

Both Rey and Rose laughed, "Did no one tell him what happens when people get married and are intimate?" Rey asked her friend.

Finn sat back and huffed, "I know how babies are made."

"Well, then you know that a rebel base is not really the place for children to be raised," Rey argued.

"I'm not so sure. I got word from Poe over the datapad that with the influx of supplies that we have been raiding from the First Order, that some of the fighters are considering moving their families to Dantooine."

Rey laughed, thankful for her pills because she couldn't fathom bringing up a baby on the base. "Are we to open a nursery next to the chow hall?"

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that we have built a family and home within the Resistance and I can't imagine being anywhere else," Finn mused. "We are getting new recruits all the time. I'm sure there will be someone along for you."

This made Rey blush thinking about how she had slowly made love to Ben just hours before on their shuttle ride home. She had commanded his body, not like the night before with orders and innuendo, but she pinned him under her thighs, riding him as his large hands wandered her body and she milked him of his bliss.

"Or perhaps someone has already caught her eye," Rose said to her husband as she saw the blush paint Rey's cheeks.

Finn scoffed, "Might as well be the General with all the time they spend together and how all they do is bicker."

Rey choked on her own tongue, not only at the insinuation but also having been privy to Poe's inner fantasies. "Poe?" Her voice squeaked.

Rose slapped her hand at Finn, "It's none of our business." She then gave Rey a knowing look and a wink.

Fearing that their minds would be made up about the ridiculous notion that Rey had a relationship with Poe and that her point on peace had completely been missed, she turned to the more sensible of her two companions. "So Rose, what does your future look like, now that you are a married woman."

Slipping her gaze just briefly to her husband, Rose smiled, "After the war, I would like to settle someplace green with large grasslands. I never want my children to know the sound of a blaster or ion cannons. Perhaps we can open an inn, or live off the land."

"That sounds nice," Rey said returning her friend's smile and wishing that she could tell Rose about Naboo, offer them a cottage in the hills around the estate so they could always be near. "Finn could have a place in government, I'm sure."

Finn scoffed, "I suspect you are talking about the First Order…"

"I'm talking about the New Order. How they have passed the Trooper Information Act and shut down the child camps. I think that you would have a helpful insight into their programs."

Finn leaned forward again, pointing his finger at Rey, "I will never serve that man…that monster. Once Ren is dead and off his self-made throne, then the Republic can start to mend and there will be peace."

Rey wanted to cry at this because she knew that Ben's rule would be long and fruitful and it saddened her that her friends wouldn't be a part of it. "But you can't ignore the good they have been doing," during all of her talks, Rey was careful not to use Ben's name, fearful it would give her true feelings away.

"Good…" Finn scoffed again, rolling his eyes at the thought of it.

In this moment Rey not only needed to sway Poe's heart but also Finn's mind. She needs them to get their heads out of the sand and look at the galaxy around them. How planets once dead are growing and prospering, how industry is blooming, and younglings were getting proper nutrition, education, and medical treatment.

She had once thought that the Resistance was fighting for this type of change, but now she knew they were just fighting against one man. A man that could not be killed because the Force would not will it.

* * *

 **AN: I'm so sorry for not updating yesterday. I had most of this part written but it just needed a little more. I hope to get a lot of writing done this weekend so that I can be good on my schedule next week.**

 **I hope you enjoyed this little chapter and Rey has a conversation with Poe in the upcoming part.**


	27. Part XXVII

**Part XXVII**

They returned to the base with much fanfare. Everyone anxious to welcome home the newlyweds and a great crowd had gathered to cheer for Finn and Rose as they exited the shuttle. Rey stayed behind, unloading the supplies with the rest of the hangar crew. On this base she was not a commander of Knights, she was not an Empress, she was a volunteer, just like the rest, and she refused to think of herself as more.

Her legs were starting to fatigue but she didn't want to use the Force to help lift the heavy crates, needing to feel some discomfort, a penalty for leaving her true life behind, and as sweat dripped from her brow Poe came sauntering up to her. "Rey, can I have a moment?"

Smiling at the rest of her crew, she wiped her dirty and chafed hands on her pants before following Poe. Now calling to the Force, she slipped into his mind for just a moment and made sure that her saber was securely strapped to her back.

Walking down the halls of the base, a place that she once felt just the beginnings of belonging and had hoped to one day call home, now felt like a punishment. A sentence that she freely entered and was serving despite herself.

Finally, in Leia's old quarters, Poe poured them each a drink, handing the cut crystal glass to Rey. "We are celebrating," he smiled and clicked his glass to hers.

"What's the occasion?" She asked dumbly, but fully knowing his mind.

Downing the liquid in one go, Poe poured himself another. "The medical supply raid," he announced. "Not only did we get enough supplies to last us half a year but we were also able to off load the ship for a few thousand credits." He emptied his glass. "You have proven yourself very useful outside of the hanger bay."

"So the mission went off without a hitch?" Rey looked down at the amber liquid, swilling it in the glass.

Poe laughed with a bit of darkness in his eyes, "It went perfectly."

"No one was injured? The crew surrendered quickly and without issue?"

"They surrendered like the cowards they are and one of them may have been caught in the cross fire."

Rey sighed, setting down her untouched drink and pinching at the bridges of her nose, a very Ben action if she were to think about it. "I told you they were civilian pilots…what went wrong?"

Already three drinks in Poe became defensive, "They were the instigators. I had no choice!"

"Liar!" Rey yelled back and she advanced on him. Watching Poe shrink back with some fear gave her a jolt of pleasure. "You forget _General_ , that I can see your mind."

His posture straightened some. "Stay out of my head, Rey," he seethed.

"You shot an unarmed man," her gaze was narrowed as she pointed an accusatory finger into his face.

Poe's cockiness came back in full force, as he sidestepped and paced back over to his decanter. "Fishing around in my head…using your powers against your friends…" He scoffed, "You are no better than _him_."

Rey bit her tongue, wanting to say that Ben was ten times the man Poe could ever be, but she resolved herself. "You lie to me, to your people…and to yourself." She stepped closer to him again, "You are going down a path that I may not be able to follow. I see your heart and it is so filled with resentment, desire for retaliation, and darkness that I'm surprised you even recognize yourself anymore."

"You know nothing," Poe said again through gritted teeth before taking another sip of his drink.

"I know that you were born into this," she started. "Your parents fought for the Rebels and now you fright for the Resistance. You don't know any other way to be. You feel if you give up now, your whole life, your parent's lives, would have been a waste."

"I told you to stay out of my head!" He took a few steps towards her, pointing his index finger at her while his other stayed wrapped around his drink.

She disregarded him, "The real waste here is if you do not capitalize on the momentum of what the New Order is doing. Meet with them, talk terms, stop the fighting and the death before it consumes you," she pleaded.

He sneered at her, "You want me to meet with that monster? Come to terms with Kylo Ren? You have no idea what we have in store for that false Emperor."

Rey exhaled exhaustedly, "Sadly Poe, I do know what you are thinking and it won't work. The Force is with him and if it was not the will of the Force, then he would not be in his position of power." She had skimmed over the visions of the Resistance's next assassination attack in Poe's ravenous desires.

"And what has the _Force_ willed for you?" He narrowed his gaze at the small woman before him, her shoulders slumped in and he found her quite pretty when she was so demure.

Sucking in a breath not only at Poe's thoughts of her being a weak and subservient creature, but also the thought of a few other ways he could find her useful. Rey squared her posture, looking upon him as she had Cale back on Naboo. "I will not kill him. I have not drawn blood for this cause since Crait and I refused to start with Ben Solo."

"So he's Ben Solo now…" Poe's tone was mocking.

She stood up even straighter, "I think what the New Order is doing under his guidance…the worlds they are helping, the people they are saving, I think he deserves the name of a man and not a monster."

"How quickly you forget what he has done to us!"

She could never forget, but she needed Poe to understand. "I want you to survive this conflict Poe," her voice was raised again but pleading, needing to drive home the truth in her words.

Poe snorted a laugh into his glass, "I will survive this. I am a General. I have people who respect me and follow me. I'm not just some pretty piece of desert trash to be thrown away…one of a dying breed like you." He took a sip, enjoying the pain on her face. "I will go down in history and you will still be nothing. A nobody from nowhere who never did anything worth a mention."

Her heart cinched and she caught just glimpses of one of Poe's memories as Leia told him about Rey's upbringing. At that time Poe had felt compassion for the young Jedi, thinking back to his many nights with his mother and father as they helped guide him thought adolescence. Then there was Leia, who brought him into manhood, and gave him a purpose, a position. But Rey had nothing and even though he was confused and almost frightened of the Force, that is where Poe planned to keep her, as a nobody who was too self doubting to do anything of substance, too scared to rise up against him.

Though a haze of whiskey he looked down her body, thinking about one thing she would be good at and he wondered if her cunt was as tight as the rest of her toned body.

Rey snapped, slapping Poe across the face, the tears that were begging to spill now dried up quicker than a random storm over the Jakku wastelands. She thought of the nerve of him, insulting her in a way he knew would hurt her, in a way she had spent the last year trying to overcome with the help and love of Ben. But mostly she was sickened by the idea of Poe knowing her intimately. She was more than her anatomy and one day soon she would watch his shocked face with joy when she was presented as Empress of all.

Poe just sneered at her again, but his thoughts were clear through the Force. He was starting to doubt her again, question her loyalty. "You did well with the intel on the medical freighter but you are still under my command and will do as you are told."

"I answer only to myself and the Force," she replied without hesitation, holding her head high.

"Then perhaps there is not a place for you here anymore," he gave her the same authoritative stare that she was looking down upon him with.

Rey didn't know he could hurt her further but those words stung. She knew them to be true for some time, said just in doubtful whispers between herself and Ben. But to hear Poe, someone who had been in awe of her back on the _Falcon_ as they raced away from Crait, say that she no longer belonged with the people she considered family, twisted the knife that was already stabbed in her heart.

So she sighed and relaxed her posture once more and looked at his feet, "I still have work to do here Poe and if that means telling you when you are being a complete ass, then so be it." Moving her eyes up to his, she became serious. "But look around you. Talk to others who go out on missions. Go to some of Rim worlds yourself and see that we are fighting a war that we can't win, but also a war there is no reason to continue to fight."

Perhaps it was the whiskey or Rey sending out relaxing feelings through the Force, but Poe seemed to slack as well. "I can't have you being a liability to our cause Rey."

"I won't turn your people against you, but I hope that you also won't lead them to ruin because I will not be around to dig you back out." She walked up to Poe, placing her hand on his shoulder, "The Force still has a purpose for you, Poe Dameron. Don't disappoint it with foolish pride."

She gave him a tight-lipped ghost of a smile and nodded her head before she left his quarters, her abandoned glass of whiskey still sitting on the table where she left it. Not only did she refused to drink to the unwarranted injury of Cale but also she would not dull her senses around Poe. She could see in his mind that he was placated for the moment, but she would have to keep at him, bringing to his attention and the attention of his command the short comings of their continued resistance to the New Order.

A few days later when the bond had opened and Rey told Ben about her confrontation with Poe, Ben had been enraged, ready to gather his Knights and arrest Poe on the spot. Rey had been able to calm him down but it had taken a lot of reassurance that she was indeed still safe on Dantooine.

True to Finn's prediction, over the next few weeks shuttles filled with families started to arrive on the base. Some of the parents threw together a school of sorts and while a nursery was not set up next to the chow hall, the base soon became overrun by children and expecting mothers.

Often times Rey had a small following as she went out into her field to practice forms. The children had only heard the legends of Luke Skywalker and the Jedi Order, and the only other lightsaber they had ever seen was Kylo Ren's on the holonet.

While none of the children had abilities within the Force, she still enjoyed teaching them about balance. That it was normal to feel joy and anger, but to not let one overtake the other. She taught them a little about history as Ben had left her some books from his library on the time before the Empire.

He agreed that a military base was not a proper place for a child, but Ben loved hearing Rey talk about the kids. In their bonds, she would beg him to teach her more about different worlds so that she could, in turn, tell her students about it the next day.

Rey was also satisfied that Poe had taken some of her speech to heart, talking to others about their experiences on different planets. Some of their people were even leaving to return to their homes, their worlds now stable enough to really make a go at it.

But it was also discouraging to see more representatives from the New Republic who were pushed out of their home worlds due to their lack of compassing for their own people. After the Senate fell, and the Senators returned to their homes, their people wanted answers. Why was not more done during the thirty-year run of the New Republic? Why was the New Order doing more for their worlds than the Senate ever did?

So the Senators were forced from their homes and there was not many worlds left that were symphonic to the Republic. The most unfortunate part of it all, was that Poe took his counsel from these jaded and displaced people. Rey felt as if she was taking one step forward before being pushed two steps back. The only blessing was that Poe had no other thoughts or plans for another assassination attempt.

Rey fed Poe more intel on food transports that Ben would send unescorted into their sector or a random shipment of books and clothing for the children would end up abandoned in their orbit.

One night about two weeks after the wedding, Rey and Ben were laying in bed together, meaning that his couch was pushed to where her cot was and he was sandwiched between her and the wall of her quarters. They had just finished a heated round of love making when a knock at her door gave Rey just enough time to wrap her sheet around her naked body before Rose came bursting into the room.

"You are not going to believe this," Rose said in a tizzy as she motioned with her hand for Rey to move over while waving a datapad in the other hand.

With large eyes, Rey looked behind her, a completely naked Ben also shifted on the cot to where she was now settled between his legs, her bare back to his chest. "What is it Rose?" Rey's voice was uneven.

Rose took in Rey's state, nude apart from a worn sheet and her hair looked a mess. "Is someone in here with you?" Her gaze wandered to the fresher, thinking perhaps Rey had a man stashed in there.

"Nope," Rey shivered as Ben kissed at her shoulder. "Just me."

Remembering the time when Finn had completely eaten his own foot concerning Rey's _alone time_ , Rose just shrugged. Since discovering the joys of sex and orgasms with Finn, she couldn't fault Rey for wanting a little self satisfaction. "This just came over the holonet." She started to pick at the touch screen. "Not any of the big channels, but photos don't lie."

"What is it, Rose?" Rey was getting impatient as Ben ran his hands under the sheet and grazed the skin just under her bust.

Finally finding the screen she was looking for, Rose pulled up the article and turned the datapad around. "Kylo Ren is courting…"

Rey wanted to faint and Ben stiffened behind her, being able to see what Rey was through the bond. His large hands had stopped just as he wrapped them around her rib cage and Rey looked at the photo and head line.

 _Has Ren Found Himself an Empress?_

The picture looked like it was taken from far off but it was from their trip to Naboo. Thankfully she was in her cloak and the hood concealed her identity, but the camera had caught the moment that Ben had looked down at her. And so there for the entire galaxy to see was the Emperor, hand in hand with a mystery woman and he was looking at her like she was the dawning sun.

"It says here that they were spotted on Naboo while Finn and I were on our honeymoon."

Rey swallowed the large lump in her throat. "Maybe it's the Queen," Rey reached out reading the caption where it said that the Emperor had visited the palace.

Rose pulled the datapad back into her lap, reading, "Sources inside the palace say that the Emperor brought his consort to meet his cousin, Queen Pendrahan of Naboo, where the three dined behind guarded doors."

Ben was now holding her tighter, rubbing his large hands along her skin and whispering into her hair that everything would be alright, yet inside he was seething. He knew of the photos and his media sources had shut them down but some smaller publication must have picked them up.

"Did you see that why he looks at her?" Rose practically gushed. "It's like Owen Jequin…" She flopped back on the cot, unknowing that she was mere inches from Ben's naked thigh. "He loves her," Rose surmised and pushed the datapad back at Rey.

With snaking hands, Rey took the screen and looked at the photo. She had not seen that look that day, having to walk with her head down, but there were plenty of times when she caught him staring at her like this and it always warmed her. "I dare say he does."

Rose sighed again, "Who thought the tyrant had it in him?"

"I knew," Rey said quietly and looked over at her friend when she heard Rose gasp. "When I went to him on the _Supremacy_ I saw his heart. I knew one day he would turn towards the light…" Rey had tears in her eyes as she looked down at the photo and then she turned back to her friend, "Rose…I…"

"Rey, what are you doing?" Ben's voice was right by her ear, blowing her hair with his breath.

"What is it, sweetie?" Rose reached out and wiped a tear from Rey's cheek.

She desperately wanted to tell her friend it was her in the photos, that it was Rey that Kylo Ren loved, but she felt Ben's fear through the bond and decided against it. So she settled for half the truth, "This is what I have been trying to tell you all. I saw him turn in the Force. I knew when it was time that he would accept the Light. The man in this picture," she held up the screen, "that is Ben, Leia and Han's son."

Rose's expression was stuck between sympathy and apprehension. "I am not blind to the progress that the New Order has been making. They have shut down the trooper facilities and started to rebuild my home world of Hays Minor. But I can not forgive Kylo Ren for the death of my sister."

Rey pinched her eyes shut for just a moment, "Dear Rose, Kylo Ren is not to blame for Paige's death."

"What do you mean?" Rose sat forward again, her feet barely touching the floor as they dangled off the cot.

Being privy to Poe's mind meant having access to all of his thoughts, including his dark places where he holds his regret. "Poe disobeyed a direct order form Leia on that bombing run. He was responsible for that fleet and he only saw the glory of taking out a Dreadnought and not the consequences of the rash command."

There were tears in Rose's eyes, "But Ren and the First Order…"

"Snoke and Hux were in command of the First Order. Ben was just as much a manipulated solider as Finn was. It was only after Snoke was destroyed and Hux was brought to heel that Ben was able to start making changes." Rey felt Ben's forehead resting on her shoulder as he observed the entire interaction through their bond. "He has a lot more of his mother in him than anyone gives him credit for."

"Be kind," he whispered against her neck, causing her to shiver.

Rose was silent for a long time, Rey could feel her processing everything and fighting within herself to come to terms with this new information. "Finn is so angry…" she spoke in a low tone.

"Has he requested his file from the Trooper Information Act?"

Rose shook her head, "He is still marked as a deserter."

"FN 2187 is from Mimban," Ben started to recite. "He has two living siblings, one on Brentaal IV and the other on Hok. His mother surrendered him into the trooper program at age four after his father died and she could no longer support her children. He was born Balfur Fel in 11 ABY." He had memorized Finn's file just incase Rey ever had questions. "I'll unflag his code incase he ever wants to make an official inquiry."

Tears were falling from Rey's eyes. Finn had a family…he had a name, a history. Even with the two most powerful users within the Cosmic Force, Rey was no closer to knowing who she was than the days she spent surviving on Jakku. "Maybe one day when this is all over and the Resistance has been pardoned, he can find out where he comes from."

"I think that would help him start to heal," Rose remarked, wondering why her friend was crying.

Rey resolved herself to pull Finn aside some time soon and tell him of his past. Give him the choice of what to do with the information and make up some lie about stealing it from a datapad on one of her many off-world missions.

"Rose," Rey offered. When she gained her friends attention, Rey reached out and held both of her hands. "Promise me that we will always be friends. No matter where we end up in this galaxy…if you are an inn keeper and I am an old hermit raving about the Force…" both girls giggled at this and even Ben snorted into the hair at the back of her neck. "Promise me that we will always love one another."

Now it was Rose's turn to tear up, "Of course silly. Nothing you could do would make me stop loving you as a sister. Although I hope that you will not be too far since Finn and I won't know what to do with ourselves without you."

Shortly after that Rose left with her datapad in hand and Rey heaved a sigh. "What are we going to do about the photo?" She asked of Ben.

"Nothing…" was his simple answer. "No one saw your face. Irris will rid the palace of any gossip and perhaps it is time the galaxy saw the more smitten side of their Emperor."

She laid her head back on his shoulder, relaxing her back into his chest and he continued the finger tips trails along her warm skin. "Thank you," she whispered.

"For what my love?" He kissed her temple.

"For Finn."

Ben hummed in reply, his motives were a tad bit selfish, thinking that providing Rey with the information was safer than her friends coming up with a scheme to break into a remote transmission system and hack the file from the databanks.

Rey reached up and cupped his cheek a little roughly, tilting her head to the side so that she could look up at him, "I can hear you mocking me Ben…"

"Well, these are the same friends that came up with the idea to storm Starkiller with two men and a Wookie."

"As I remember it, I escaped long before they even got there and one of those schemers was your father."

"Well then that accounts for the ridiculousness of it," he smirked down at her before pressing his lips to hers.

Settling back against his chest again Rey started to think back to when she first met Kylo Ren and how far they had come. She also thought about the Deathstars that Ben spoke of from his grandfather's time and also the super weapon that Snoke built and she wanted some way to assure that nothing like that would ever be built again. Just as she was about to speak the bond flickered.

Ben bent his neck down, whispering into her ear and placing one more kiss to the side of her head before the bond cut.

For a long time, she laid in her cot, thinking about how she almost felt pushed by the Force. While she had lectured Poe on many occasions about how his choices were tempting the Force, stewing him in darkness and creating a path to misery, Rey sometimes thought that she too was straying off her path.

She knew that at the end of it all would be Ben, but staying with the Resistance, getting into fights with Poe, questioning leadership at every turn…perhaps she was also tempting the Force to shift her path. If she was to ignore her calling and obey her heart, Rey would pack her belongings this moment and set a course for Coruscant. But she was not ruled by her heart, she was ruled by the Cosmic Force the pulsed in her very bones and rooted her to destiny.

That night she dreamed of visions, both of the past and future. The green dress and the lines of stars whizzing past, her and Ben standing on the bridge of a ship with such love and hope, made her body warm as if the Force was vibrating with excitement and she nuzzled in deeper to the pillow that she had brought from their home on Coruscant.

The Force was never wrong, but the Force was also becoming impatient and in her dreaming state it showed her little bare feet on dewy green grass, nights of heavy breaths and passion, and a legacy beyond her wildest expectations.

So as instructed, on day four hundred and fifty-four Rey left on her shuttle, hooking up with the Entralla Route at Borosk and riding it down to Orinda where she was to meet up with Ben and take the Command Shuttle to their next rendezvous.

She left her supply list with the port master on Orinda and boarded the MK3, Cale was waiting for her just inside the hull door. "Good evening, Empress. Ren is on a call in your quarters. He has asked that you take us off world and set course for the Celanon Spur."

Rey nodded and handed her bag off to the guard and made her way to the bridge. Arlan was in the co-pilot's seat as Tyris and Davin were strapping themselves into the jump seats along the back wall. Instead of trying to beat her last time of forty-two seconds of getting off world, Rey decided to lift off easily as she knew that Ben would have greeted her himself if not for a very important comm.

So with her dear friend at her right, she let the data screen scan her hand and Rey readied the shuttle for flight. The two women operated the craft like a dream, working as one, Arlan knowing just when to let down the wings and retract the landing gear. Rey pushed the trusters and before long they were away in the hyperspace lane as if being pulled by blue strings of light.

"That was beautiful," came a deep voice from the back of the bridge.

Rey pulled at her harness and like always, Ben caught her slim body as she flung herself though the air at him. It had been barely over two weeks since they last saw each other but that time had been tiresome and made them both weary. But now they both felt refreshed and renewed. Ready to take on anything that the galaxy should throw at them.

Their journey was long, having to change hyperspace lanes six times before they finally came upon a primarily green planet with an orbital ring not made of ice or space dust, but rather of metal pieces that sparkled in the world's one sun.

Looking from the windscreen to Ben who stood behind her, Rey glowed. "Kuat?"

Ben smiled and nodded, having Arlan take them to the far side of the planet to the Military Space Station where they were expected. The shuttle landed without incident and Rey stood in the main hold, "Where is my cloak?"

"You won't need it here," Ben reassured her.

She bit her lip, "After Naboo…we need to be careful."

"You won't need it here," he repeated and then offered her his hand.

A sharply dressed man with tanned skin was waiting for them at the base of the ramp. Cale and Davin went down first, standing on either side as sentries. Rey and Ben followed and finally after shutting down the craft, Tryis and Arlan came down from the ship in their more relaxed black uniforms.

"Emperor Ren and Lady Ren," the man addressed, bowing at the waist. "We are honored to have you here with us at the Kuat Drive Yards."

"Thank you for making time for us Mr. Purkis," Ben reached out and shook the man's hand before they were led across the hangar and through a set of double doors.

"What are we doing here?" Rey whispered to Ben as the man walking in front of them rattled on stats and figures on the new line of hyperdrives. It wasn't that she was disinterested in the interworking of starships, she spent most of her life in every nook and cranny of Destroyers, but with their time so limited, Rey knew that Ben had an ulterior motive.

He just looked down at her and smiled, squeezing her hand. "Be patient."

They entered a dimly lit room with a wall of windows that looked out upon open space. A holotable, much like she had seen aboard the Star Destroyers, sat in the middle of the room. Ben walked her to one side of the table as Mr. Purkis went to a small screen of touch controls on the other side. With a few pecks at the set of controls, the device came to life, illuminating and then producing a hologram of the company's logo, which floated about a foot off the table.

"In your correspondence, Emperor, you said you wanted to fashion the ship after those of the Empire." When Ren nodded, Mr. Purkis continued. "As you requested, we took the old plans from the _Inflictor_ and started to modify and modernize it."

Soon a hologram of a Star Destroyer came into view and Rey looked up at the man standing next to her, "Ben?" She questioned. "The _Inflictor_? What is this?"

Ben laid his hand upon hers as it rested on the edge of the table and looked down into her large concerned eyes. "Leave us," he commanded without braking his gaze.

The room emptied and Rey looked back at the hologram. "What is this?"

Now not under the gaze of one of the most prominent weapons manufacturer in the galaxy, Ben's expression became boyish. "I know that you are familiar with the _Inflictor_ from Jakku and wanted you to feel at home in the ship…"

"But what is it?" She insisted again.

He blushed, "It's the _Redemption_."

Rey was taken back to their shared vision on the bridge of a mighty Star Destroyer. "The _Redemption…_ " she repeated as if the words were always made to leave her lips.

"It will be our flagship. Stocked enough to aide any world, but fortified enough to defend against any foe. It will be a sight to behold and it is yours, Rey. It's all for you."

Her eyes went wide as she looked at the hologram again. The ship looked so small on this scale, but she had walked through the rear thrusters, she had climbed the coolant shafts and stood in the hyperdrive bay of this very model. This was going to a massive ship and wondered aloud, "Why?"

Ben sighed. "Snoke and Hux were foolish to have most of the fleet following the Raddus from D'Qar to Crait. It was a show of force, but it was misguided and turned out to be a catastrophe."

Rey realized that until this moment they had not talked about Ben's time after the Battle of Crait. She had heard from the Resistance side that Holdo had turned the ship, using the last of the fuel to push it to hyper speed and cut through the First Order fleet. So she asked Ben, "What happened….after I left you?"

Her words cut him and even though she had left him for dead, she was here now and he couldn't go back to his feeling of anger and loathing. "I awoke and Hux was there, ready to kill me at the first chance, so naturally I blamed the whole thing on you…" He smiled down at her, trying to put some humor into the most devastating betrayal of his life.

"When Holdo jumped the hyperdrive, it split the _Supremacy_ in two. That being Snoke's ship, I had it scraped, turned into the medical freighters you asked for actually. But along with that monstrosity, the ripple of energy tore apart eight other Destroyers. A hundred thousand people died," he snapped his fingers, "just like that. I'm surprised you didn't feel it in the Force, it was almost crippling.

"So we lost three-quarters of our fleet in one go, which was actually a genius plan on Holdo's part, but deviating to our ranks."

Rey bit at her lip and squeezed his hand, "Did you feel the death of Hosnian Prime?"

He grounded himself with a deep breath, "I've felt everything. Even when I was a boy, I would know when a mission had gone bad and I was always left wondering if it was my mother or father caught in the crossfire."

Closing his eyes tightly he tried to not relive the pain of Hux's genocide so that he could spare Rey from feeling it thought the bond. When Starkiller had first been fired, Ben had fallen to his knees in a remote hall, gripping at his helmet and screaming into the muted confines. Snoke was wrong to tempt the Force like he had, and in turn the Force had sent Rey to give Ben the strength to do what he had to.

"When worlds see the iconic spearhead of the _Redemption_ come into their system, I want them to cheer, knowing that help has arrived. I want those that oppose us to quiver in fear of her might, but mostly I want the Light of my Empress to guide her endeavors and save the galaxy from ruin."

Reaching up and running her hand along his right cheek, Rey smiled softly. "Her Imperial Majesty Admiral Rey Ren has a nice ring to it…don't you think?"

Ben would never feel as if he deserved this strong-headed, ambitious, lovely, and compassionate woman, but for only a reason the Force knows, she loves him just as fiercely and he would bend the galaxy to keep her as blissfully happy as she was each time he took her in his arms and planted his lips to hers.

* * *

 **AN: Since I posted on Saturday last week, I wanted to post early this morning. Your kind words are beyond measure and you guys are so freaking sweet!**

 **On a totally different note...What do you all think about this Page 6 news that Adam has a 2 yr old son that he and his wife have been keeping secret? I think my head exploded when my Muse told me Saturday.**


	28. Part XXVIII

**AN: I'll just leave this here...**

* * *

 **Part XXVIII**

After they parted, Ben took the next few minutes to showing Rey all of the personalizations he requested be made to the ship. Then Rey dug her hands into the interactive hologram, enlarging parts of the schematics and pointing out some of the more surprising details she had discovered while scrapping on the _Inflictor_.

Ben watched with rapture as she talked about the wiring in the turbo lifts that were garbage or the hydraulic tubing that had turned to dust. She recommended reenforcing the gangplanks as they would often fail or fortifying the blast doors to the hyperdrive since she was able to breech them in a matter of minutes.

"I'm glad you like it," he whispered over Rey's shoulder as she took one last look at the thruster configuration.

Minimizing the schematics to once again view the whole ship, Rey waved her hand, making the hologram slowly spin on the lateral plane. "It's beautiful Ben."

Stepping up behind her, Ben wrapped his arms around her waist, "In the course of a year, I hope to have you by my side for the Christen of her."

Rey tilted her head back, looking up at him. "I'll be here," she said with as much conviction as she could muster.

She wanted to believe her words and she hoped that Ben didn't sense the doubt that was settling into the deepest parts of her mind. The truth of it all was that Rey didn't think she could go another year away from Ben and she resolved to work as hard as she could to bring peace with the Resistance in the next few months, or she needed to just walk away and let the Force decide the outcome.

He cupped her cheek and she spun in his arms, just as she though he was going to kiss her, Ben spoke against her lips, "I have something else to show you."

With her eyes flicking from his full grinning lips to the mischievous glint in his eye, Rey couldn't fathom what else he had in store for her. "The _Redemption_ wasn't enough?" She teased.

"Every star in the sky would never be enough for you," he smirked back and then gave her a quick kiss before taking her hand and leading her from the show room.

Walking down the same halls back to the hangar, Rey took her free hand and grabbed the crook of Ben's arm, pulling her body up close to his. "What did you mean before when you said I didn't need my cloak here?"

Ben pointed to the durasteel ceiling and windowless walls. "There are no cameras here, no unauthorized staff. Everything they do here is classified and when the Emperor asks for the entire sector to be cleared for a private showing…" he pulled her to a stop, gaze upon her with his dark eyes, "they clear the sector."

Sometimes Rey forgot what it meant to have the type of power that Ben commanded. It was all fun and excitement, dashing off to unseen worlds and playing the hero to the less fortunate, but what she wouldn't give to watch him upon his throne. It would be a lie that she didn't find his power extremely…stimulating.

Coming back out of her daze, Rey smiled up at him, "Well aren't we lucky then…"

They continued their walk and as they neared the end of the hall, they started to hear raised voices. In the expanse of the hangar, they found Cale and Davin squaring off, each holding a training saber.

"Keep your weight balanced!" Cale called as he took another swing at his comrade with the blue blade.

Davin struggled to parry each strike, "I've never held one of these things before."

"Go easy on him Cale," Tyris called from the side lines where he was sitting next to Arlan on the ramp of the shuttle.

Cale advanced again, swinging the saber towards Davin's head. "You think I became a junior Knight by allowing anyone to go _easy_ on me?"

Arlan snorted, "Junior Knight? Just because you make up a title for yourself doesn't make you special."

Rey and Ben watched, both tilting their heads to the side wondering what it was like for a non-Force sensitive person to wield a true saber. But as Cale continued to rain down blows on Davin, Rey dropped Ben's hand and took a few hurried strides forward.

Reaching for her back, her saberstaff fell into her hand perfectly and with a double snap and hiss the two ends crackled to life. "How about you pick on someone your own size," she called out to the man who almost matched Ben's height and build.

Cale watched the Empress twirl her very real lightsaber staff a few times before she twisted at the hilt and came away holding a sword in each hand, flipping her wrists and making the blades pop and hum as a small blue flame exhausted out of each hilt.

With a nervous brow, Cale looked to his Master and then to his Empress. In a quick decision, he deactivated the saber with a blade that could barely leave a welt and dropped to one knee before Rey. "I could never raise a weapon against what is my Master's, against my Empress."

 _Finally_ , Ben thought to himself as he stepped forward and reached out a hand. "Rey," he said calmly, placing his hand on her shoulder. She relaxed under his touch, the blades of her saber retracting, coming together, and being seated at the small of her back.

Cale now looked up, seeing Ren standing behind the Empress and he prayed that he made the right choice, that he wouldn't be considered a coward for not answering Rey's challenge. "Master…" and he started to stand.

"Stay where you are," Ben's voice left no room of objection and Cale sank back down to his knee. Reaching for his hip, there was a distinctive and echoing metallic click of Ben's saber coming from away from his belt. "Rey," he spoke again, holding out his black cross guarded saber for her.

The first time she had held this saber was in the throne room on the _Supremacy_ , her teeth bared at Snoke as his drawn voice mocked her fierceness. Her hands had been shaking so badly then, partly from fear and partly from pure adrenaline. But now, under the guidance and encouragement of Ben, she steadily wrapped her fingers around the girth of the hilt, holding it downwards between herself and the kneeling guard.

"Repeat what I say," his voice was just behind her ear, his hand still on her shoulder.

Rey listened carefully to Ben, knowing that the task she was about to undertake was something that both the Knight and herself would never forget. So with the regal voice of an Empress, Rey stated the following.

"Cale Bahr, have you undertaken to accept the accolade of Knighthood that was offered to you by the Knights of Ren?"

"I have," Cale answered, his chest heaving.

"You have been deemed fit for this high estate by your Master, Emperor, and Empress, and have indicated your willingness to accept this honor from our hands." As Rey recited the words, she knew that Ben's induction was nothing like this pomp, but rather a trial by fire. "Do you now swear by all that you hold sacred, true, and holy that you will honor and defend the New Order, your Master, your Empress, and your brothers?"

"I will."

"That you will conduct yourself in all matters as befits a Knight, drawing your sword only for just cause? That you will convey upon the masses the honor that is to be a Knight of Ren to the benefit of the good name of your Master and the greater glory of the Force?"

"I do earnestly accede."

"Light the saber," Ben instructed.

To Cale's credit, the intended didn't even jump when the unsteady red blade snapped to life, just bowed his head, exuding feelings of honor and esteem.

Ben's voice was all around her, in her head and under her skin as she continued her speech, "Then having sworn these solemn oaths, know now that we, your Master, Emperor, and Empress, through the Force, do dub you with our hands, our saber, by all that you hold sacred, true, and holy…"

Without having to be told, Rey moved the saber over Cale's head, lowering it over each of his shoulders, so close that the lint of his surcoat singed. "Arise, Sir Cale, Knight of Ren."

Applause rang out as the three guards hooped and hollered in celebration. Rey deactivated Ben's saber as his touch came off her shoulder, his large hand wrapping around the forearm of Cale as they pulled each other in for a one-armed hug.

"Thank you, sir," Cale said as the two men parted.

Ben smirked, playfully slapping Cale on the cheek, "Don't thank me yet. The difficult part is yet to come."

Next the new Knight turned to the small woman who just bestowed the greatest honor upon him. "Thank you Empress."

"Congratulations," Rey said sweetly, rocking up on her toes to place a friendly kiss upon Cale's cheek. She saw a blush paint his face and she wanted to tease him but decided to let the Knight enjoy his moment.

Finally Arlan, Tyris, and Davin came up and offered hugs and pats on the back. As they were busy in their own celebration, Ben reached out and threaded his fingers with Rey's, pulling her towards the shuttle.

"Where are you taking me now?" She asked, loving the adventures they endeavored together.

"Hangar B," he answered simply as they passed by the MK3 and towards another set of double doors. They entered the airlock between the hangars, he squeezed her hand and as he started to walk forward again, his gaze was set intently on her face.

The lights in the space came up as they entered and Rey squealed and actually stated to excitedly jump up and down at his side. Ben could only let out the most honest and full belly laugh.

In the middle of the hangar sat two TIE Silencers. After his had been lost aboard the _Supremacy_ , he had commissioned another one, sleek and completely blacked out. But for Rey, her ship was detailed in shades of gray.

"Are we going to fly these?" Rey asked, already standing next to her craft as she had run across the polished tarmac to get a closer look.

Ben sauntered up, running his hand along the sloping wing, pretending to be inspecting the craftsmanship before his lips pulled up and he slid his gaze to her, "Who else is going to test them out?"

Rey squealed again. She had flown TIEs in her simulator a million times but she never guessed that she would actually fly one. The design was different, more menacing looking, built for speed, maneuverability, and stealth. She was itching to get at the controls.

With a memorized precision he reached out and pulled the lever that released the hatch. Inside the cockpit, set upon the pilot's seat was a helmet, fashioned more like those of the Rebels with an open face. Ben often flew without a helmet, wanting to observe everything around him, but he wanted to be able to use the comms that were built in head pieces.

Palming the crown of the helmet, Ben picked it up in one large hand as Rey squirmed and tucked her hair back behind her ears. It fit like a glove and she pushed his hands away as she pulled the strap tight under her chin.

She was in the cockpit before he could blink. "I had the controls retrofitted to be more like the Empire era TIEs so that you would be more familiar with them." He pointed to the buttons and switches, the pedals and stick controls. Rey had already pulled the shoulder straps of her harness in place and Ben made sure she was secure.

"Go get in your ship before I fly out of here without you," Rey insisted.

Ben smiled and quickly kissed her before pulling down the hatch and locking her inside. His long limbs moved in a sort of trot over to his blacked out TIE and just like in any battle scenario, he was strapped in and checking the comms within a minute.

"Push the ignition button," he instructed over the comm. "When it stops blinking and turns a solid green, flip the switch under it to light the trusters."

Rey did as she was told and when the engines rumbled to life, her smile was all teeth and gums as she wrapped her hand around the control stick. "Check your pedal controls," his voice sounded inside her helmet and she flexed her feet.

"Good," Ben said watching the ailerons move on the rear of the wings. With a wave of his hand, the hangar bay doors started to retract, exposing the vase void of space that Drive Yard seemed to just hang in. "Now…" he looked out the side windows of his craft at Rey. "Go!"

On the simulator her take offs were better than her landings, so she keyed up the thruster, feeling the ship float above the tarmac for just a moment before she eased the Silencer through the ionized airlock that separated the vacuum of space from the hangar.

Ben shot out after her, loving the sound of her joyful laughter over the comm as she put the TIE through its paces. She executed quick turns, double backs, and barrel rolls with ease.

"This is amazing!" She called over the comms as she completed her third run past where Ben was just floating in his fighter.

His chuckle sounded in her headset and his voice was deep and seemed to surround her. "Now are you ready for the real fun?"

She pulled up in front of him, so close that she could see the freckles on his face and the wrinkles in his cheeks from his smile. "What did you have in mind?"

"The green bar on the side of your display…" he watched her head tilt down. "Is it full?"

"Yes," Rey answered, reading the label under the bar before her entire ship rocked to the side.

"Shields are good," he quipped, his thumb still hovering over the red trigger on his stick control.

"You shot me!" Rey shrieked with laughter in her voice. "I don't think I can deflect laser canons with the Force."

"You'd be surprised," Ben smirked, knowing that Rey could do anything in the Force if she truly needed or wanted to. "Our canons are set in a training mode, sort of like stun on a blaster. Your shields will prevent any damage but you will feel it when you get hit."

Rey smirked, "You assume that you will be able to hit me again. You forget that I took on two TIEs the first time I ever flew a real ship and that was when the _Falcon_ was held together with duratape and hope."

"That maybe true, but you weren't flying against me," Ben said as he started to back his fighter off from its current position. "Best out of five," and with that he flipped off his comm, pulling his Silencer to the left before he zipped away behind the Drive Yard ring.

Their game had begun, and Rey scrambled to decide if she should go after him or take up a defensive position. She didn't have much time to consider and with his black ship against the dark sky, Rey only noticed him coming from the far end of the Drive Yards when the sun caught on the glass of his windscreen.

"Damn he's fast," Rey cursed to herself as she raced away from his advances, seeing that he was already firing a few shots in her direction. Alarms sounded in the cockpit and he already had a lock on her. "We'll see about that," and she pulled the control stick hard to the right, the ship easily matching her command with a tight banking turn.

Ben allowed the cat and mouse game to go on for a while, using only his instincts as a pilot. "She's good," he commented to himself as Rey once more broke away from his lock. But like in any battle, he turned to the Force, which allowed him to better anticipate her next move.

As she slowed down to pull another hard right, Ben banked left then cut right and pushed his thrusters to full, firing off a few shots that landed on the left flank of her ship. "Got ya," he said with a smirk.

Much to Rey's chagrin, Ben caught her three out of the five times. She had a good run, her canon fire making it's mark on the third and forth round. "Sudden death," he had quipped over the comm before going silent again and they both flew and fought as if their Empire depended on it. But in the end, Ben had disappeared into the blackness of space, only to come up from under her and tag her with a blue bolt of energy.

"Don't worry my love. You'll beat me one day."

Rey laughed over the comm, "I would love to see their faces if I just flew this thing back to the Resistance. I think Poe would shit himself."

Ben chuckled at this too. "That would surely be a sight to behold," he mused. Rey was casually keeping pace with him as they did a lap around Kuat and he flipped the comm back on, "Do you see the yellow blinking light on the top right of your console?"

Scanning the controls and gauges, she found the light, "Yes."

Punching some figures and commands into the computer in his ship, Ben waited for the link to come up. "Let me know when it stops blinking and becomes solid."

It flashed three more times before the yellow indicator held a constant glow. "Now," she spoke and then she was thrown back into her seat. Without warning her ship had been pushed into hyperspace. "Ben!" She called frantically. "What's happening? Can you hear me?"

"Look to your left," came the smooth voice over the comm and when Rey turned her head, she saw his black TIE just a half-length in front of her.

"How did you do that?" Her mind raced, trying to determine if he had manipulated her controls through the Force of if he hacked her system.

"It's called a tether. It links your ship to mine, so if we need to jump for whatever reason, we will always end up in the same place."

Rey thought it was rather practical, imagining a few scenarios where it would be useful. Both of them were stubborn and it wouldn't surprise her if, at some time, they would need to pull each other from a fight. She knew that Ben would lay down his life for her and she too would join the Force to keep him safe, but this was just one more way to ensure that they got their life together.

They sat in comfortable silence as the cockpits were illuminated blue from the passing stars. There was only one planet between Kuat and their destination, but Ben had accounted for the gas giant of Tyed Kant, swing their course around it and right on the edge of sector M10, he pulled them from hyper speed.

Unlike the shocking speed in which the hyperdrives kicked upon entry, the TIEs glided out of hyperspace with ease. "Follow me," Ben said giving the controls of Rey's ship back over to her.

Gripping the control stick, she swung her craft around, following him into nothingness. "Where are we?" She didn't even try to do the calculations in her head, they had been in hyperspace for less then thirty minutes so they couldn't have gone far.

"This is my kingdom…"

Rey again looked around, seeing nothing but pin pricks of light. Of all the beautiful places in their galaxy he had taken her, open space was not the most exciting.

When the comm buzzed, his voice was grim. "This is where Alderaan used to be."

The meaning of his words now hit her and tears formed in Rey's eyes. Looking around the emptiness around them, it was hard to believe that a world full of people, plants, animals, art, and passion used to hang in this space. What was even more heart breaking about the tale of Alderaan was that Vader had killed the world that sheltered and loved his daughter. Wiping at the trails down her cheeks Rey opened the comm, "There can't be any more super weapons."

"I know."

Snapping her head to the left where they were still keeping pace with each other, Rey saw the stoic expression as his gaze remained forward.

"The Starkiller was almost half way compete by the time I came to Snoke. I never approved of the use of weapons like that, but a few bolts of lightening made it so I kept those thoughts to myself.

"As much as Vader was my grandfather, I also feel a connection to Bail and Breha Organa. They were my people just as much as the Skywalkers and I would like to think that if they had not been killed when my mother was so young, that maybe so many things could have been different."

"We won't allow anything like that to ever happen again," Rey reassured.

Peering over his right shoulder, Ben made eye contact with her from the cockpit of his fighter. "Never again…"

They took a few more laps around the expanse of empty space before Ben came over the comm. "Tether linked. Prepare for jump."

This time Rey knew the brace herself in her seat as the craft launched forward through hyperspace. Even though they were forty feet apart, hurling though space at unfathomable speeds, Rey opened herself up to the bond and she sucked in a breath when she felt him.

She could feel his discontent, questioning himself as to how he could still allow Hux to carry on as he does and not yet bring him to justice. Rey had thought about the war crimes at length, knowing that perhaps Poe would also be called before a jury of his peers. While the Resistance General may deserve some prison time or a stint in exile, but Hux deserved nothing less than an execution.

Through the bond she could see that the pale-haired First Order General was still recovering from the MK2 crash. Ben would stand by and watch Hux scream out in agony with each stem injection that would further fuse his nervous system with his prosthetics. A part of Ben liked seeing the snake of a man in pain, but Rey could still feel the conflict in her partner.

Rey swore to herself that once she took her rightful place at Empress, she would relieve Ben of this pain and run Hux though with the blades powered by the broken crystal of Anakin Skywalker. She would never revel in the prospect of taking a life, but she would do this for Ben.

Just as they slid from hyperspace and the fighters coasted towards the Drive Yard, Rey shifted in her seat, becoming resolute in her decision concerning Hux, and she heard the comm click.

"Gods, I want to marry her…"

Ben's voice was almost a whisper, as if he was the only one those words were intended for. When her head snapped to the left, she saw him longingly gazing at her. "Shit," he cursed before the comm clicked back off.

He became flustered, attempting to pay attention to anything but the strong wave of… _everything…_ that was rolling off of Rey. His finger must have slid over the comm link when the hyperdrives spooled down. Certain she heard him, Ben's palms became sweaty.

Rey raced ahead, shutting off her emotions from the Force, but knew that some of her confusion, elation, and some annoyance went through the bond before she could block it. It was easy to find their hangar, being the only one open and in opposition due to the Emperor's request for discretion.

She came in too fast and a little too hard, hitting the reverse thrusters after she was already in the hangar. Her only saving grace was that she remembers to engage the landing gear as the TIE dropped the final two feet to the tarmac. Flipping the switches to the off position, she pulled the lever at her right and had her harness off just as Ben was coming in for his landing.

The blacked out Silencer came down light as a feather, but Rey was already stalking across the glossy floor, pulling at the strap under her chin.

As Rey walked with purpose and a look of absolute determination in her eye, Ben had never been more scared of her. His slick fingers worked at his harness and he clambered out of the fighter, his long limbs working against him.

"Ben Solo," she called while watching the object of her attention practically fall out of the raised cockpit.

"Rey…look, I'm sorry…"

"Ben, shut up," Rey said, coming to stand in front of him, dropping her helmet to the ground next to her feet, hearing it hit with a hollow thunk.

He squired under her command, alternating his weight from one foot to the other.

Rey didn't want to hold him in suspense for too look so she gave him a very serious look. "If you have something to ask me, the least you can do is ask it in the proper way."

His mind immediately went back to their last time together, how Rey had felt awash with emotions while watching that ridiculous holoshow and his eyes went large. She was asking him to ask her…she wanted him to ask her…she wanted him…

Ben took a half step forward, coming more into her space. "Rey…" he started, his gaze pleading.

"The helmet," Rey interrupted.

"What?" Ben asked dumbly.

Rey smiled, "Take it off..."

"Oh," he stammered, reached up and pulled the helmet from his head, throwing it to the ground as if it was on fire.

Shifting her gaze up, she let out a little giggle at the state of his hair, all slick with sweat, some parts plastered to his head, others sticking straight up from when he jerked the helmet from his head. The last time she had seen him this disheveled was back on the _Supremacy_ when he was yelling at her to let the past die and begging her to be his future.

His hands flew to his head, combing through his hair with his fingers, but it appeared that he was making it worse as she continued to chuckle at him. With an exhausted but humorous sigh, he let his arms fall to his sides and breathed out, "Would you stop laughing woman and let me do this?"

This made Rey bring her fingertips to her lips, giggling into them one last time before smiling up at him, "I'm sorry...you were saying..."

With another long sigh, this time to steel his nerves, Ben reached out, taking both of her hands in his. "Rey, since the very first time I heard of the _girl_ on Jakku that got away with the BB-8 droid, I knew you were special. When we first met, you were fearless and I never thought that I would fall in love with a woman who would shoot at me even before introductions were made."

Rey returned his smile, breathing out a small laugh as she felt her eyes start to sting with building tears.

He lightly squeezed her small hands in his large ones. "When our minds were first bridged, I knew that I would never get enough of you. I wanted to teach you so that you would always be near.

"But you cut my face in half and then left me for dead…"

Rey reached up and stroked his right cheek lovingly.

"The Force has always destined us to be together and it connected us in a way that I never imagined could be possible. When you reached out to me on Ahch-To, when you came to me on the _Supremacy_ , when you stood against my Master when you fought by my side…I knew that I would always and forever be _yours._

"You have healed me, made me whole, brought me joy. You have been the reason for the change in the galaxy, the reason for the change in me. This past year…you have shown me more love and compassion than I have witnessed in my entire life. I laid myself before you, all of Ben Solo and all of Kylo Ren and you loved me in spite of it all. You have given me everything and I will work the rest of my life to make sure you never regret caring for such a broken man."

He cupped her cheek, swiping at a rolling tear with the pad of his thumb. Her expression was a mix of pain and relief, love and despair, fear and hope.

With one more steadying breath, Ben sank to one knee, her breathing stuttered and both of their hearts raced in time. He gazed up at his Rey, her eyes glassy and the tip of her nose red, but she was the most beautiful vision he had ever looked upon.

"Rey," he spoke and traced his thumb along the knuckles of her left hand. "My desert bloom, my equal in the Force, my love, my Empress…my life. We will forever be connected in the Force but I want to be yours, and only yours in every way possible."

He swallowed, "I love you and will continue to love you until the end of my days and then beyond that in the Force." She was crying, he was rambling, and Ben knew Rey was just wanting to be asked a simple question.

So he stilled his mind, leaving himself bare within the bond, hiding nothing of his love and utter devotion to her. "Rey, my Light, will you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?"

Through out his entire speech, Rey was pulling his words within her, allowing the feeling of them to swirl, making her heart felt light and like it was going to bust all at the same time. She sighed thinking that Owen from her stories had nothing on her Ben, her Emperor, her… betrothed.

When the question finally passed his lips, when he offered yet another piece of himself to her, to protect and nurture, she squeaked with joy, throwing herself at him and wrapping her arms around his neck.

They toppled to the floor with the force of her embrace, both of them laughing in-between the kisses that Rey was raining down upon him.

"My love…"

Rey hummed into the kiss that she was tracing down the scar on the right side of his face. She only parted her lips from his skin when he cupped her cheek and brought her gaze up to his.

"What is your answer?" His eyes searched her face for any hint of doubt. "Will you marry me?"

Her smile made Rey's entire face scrunch up, her cheeks high and rosy and tears of absolute elation fell from her eyes and upon Ben's face.

"Yes," she whispered. Her expression relaxed and she had nothing but love and desire in her gaze as she lowered her face once more, her nose brushing up against his, nuzzling her skin into his. "I will be your wife," her lips ghosting over his with her speech before they were locked in a searing kiss upon the polished floor of Hangar B high above the world of Kuat.


	29. Part XXIX

AN: I'm so sorry for the delay **! Life has a way of catching up with you when every extra minute was spent in Reylo land. But I hope that all of you enjoy!**

* * *

 **Part XXIX**

Ben was completely in raptured with Rey as they became a tangle of lips and limbs. Without conscious thought, and as if moving as one, their fingers went to work on the other's coats and tunics. Rey kicked at her heels, trying to rid her feet of her boots and her body squirmed against him, creating a delicious friction between them.

Once the top half of Rey was bare, she grabbed onto the fabric covering his broad chest and rolled to the right, moaning when his hips came to rest between her thighs and she hooked her legs behind his back. Threading her fingers under his coat, Rey pushed it off his shoulders.

As he kissed down her neck, the chill of the tarmac caused her skin to pebble and he ran his fingertips up her arm and over her collar bone. "Say it again," he whispered into her flesh as she pulled at the tunic that was tucked into his pants.

"I'm going to marry you," she groaned as he licked down her breast bone.

He sat back for just a moment, gripped on to the waistband of her simple pants and pulled them off in one go. The black lace panties that covered her core made him dig his thumbs into her hips as he gripped his fingers around her back.

The next few moves were calculated and made with purpose as he pulled her hips up his thighs, wrapping one arm around the small of her back and cradling the back of her neck with the other hand. Once she was seated on top of his legs, her chest pressed to his and their lips pressed together once more, Ben held her rear and with shifting movements, he was on his feet.

Breaking from the kiss for just a moment he looked around him, refusing to make love to his fiancée on the floor of a hangar bay. With a smirk and as she lightly nipped at his jaw, he took a few long strides before pressing her up against the wing of his TIE fighter.

Rey squeaked at the chilled carbon fiber under her rear as she was perched on the lower angular wing, gripping one hand to the run of metal below her and the other onto the upward sloping wing. Attempting to not fall through the space between the blades, Rey squeezing her thighs around his hips. Pressing forward and knowing that she had a secure hold on both the craft and him, Ben freed his hands and stripped off his tunic.

Cursing the complex buckles of his boots, all he could do was pull at the fastenings of his trousers, feeling the material slack around his hips.

His Rey was splayed out on his fighter, his new dark steed that would carry him into battle and while he wanted the mere sight of it to instill fear, he also would never forget Rey's beautiful pert breast displayed on his wing.

So he ran his large hand from her slender throat, down her chest, catching her sensitive nipples with a fanning sweep of his fingers, before tracing the curves of her waist and hip. When his fingertips ran along the edge of her lace panties, Rey reached up, carding her right hand into his hair, pulling slightly to gain his attention and they heated gaze met. "Tear them off me."

Ben rocked into her as the words left her mouth, lace already wrapped in his hand as he pulled, feeling a slight stretch before the fabric gave way. This time he wasn't going to throw them aside, instead, he balling the already damp panties in his fist and then tucking them into his pocket.

With her legs still firmly around his middle, Rey reached between them, freeing and stroking his cock from the confines of his boxer briefs. Ben moaned into her chest, her nimble fingers not giving him enough coverage or enough friction, and he started to rock his hips forward, coating the tip in her slick.

She whimpered his name and clawed at his back, just above his rear, attempting to pull him closer, attempting to angle herself so on the next thrust, he would slip inside of her. The ledge of the wing was only a few inches thick and she had to be careful not to slide off, but she needed some relief for the ache in her core.

Pulling away from her and with the guidance of his right hand, Ben positioned himself at her entrance, dipping just tip in, helpless to watch the head of his cock come away glistening. When she begged out a simple 'please', he steadied his hand on her hip to ensure that she would stay firmly planted, and he drove into her with a quick and diving thrust.

Rey cried out, gripping at the downward sloping wing above her and also at his shoulder. Even though his proposal had been filled with sentiment, lovely confessions of their love, and promising of their future together, Rey was thankful that he wasn't going easy on her. She needed to feel his passion, for him to stoke at a dark place within her that wanted to abandon that path of the light she was on. She yearned to be continuously devoured by Ben.

Knowing that their lovemaking would be hurried only by the intensity of the matching fires that burned within them, Ben wanted to commit this time to memory. The pleading hunger in her hazel eyes and the gasping shape of her rosy lips, the blush across her collarbones, and the way her modest breasts bounced with each trust. Running his hand up her leg, he memorized the curve of her knee and the warmth of her thigh as it was tucked over his hip.

This was a moment that he never thought he would get. He told Rey long ago that Kylo Ren was never meant to be loved, but the creature in the mask had never seemed more of a stranger to him. As a Jedi, he was never meant to have attachments, as a Sith caring so fiercely for another was seen as a weakness, but as Ben Solo, he was extremely humbled and in awe of the woman that was going to be his wife as she started panting his name with urgency.

So with shifting his focus back to the warm and pliable form of his fiancée, Ben moved in a way that her body was craving and with the backdrop of open space through the hangar door, and Rey sitting atop his warship, Ben marveled at the sound of her pleasure filled cries echoing off the cold walls.

Her nails dug into the flesh of his flanks and he hissed as she caught the edge of the bowcaster scar, but his pace did not falter as she crested, calling out his name, almost surprised at how quickly she had built up to her climax.

Ben slowed just enough to let Rey ride out the waves of her orgasm, but now had to take a tighter hold on her, as her body became almost boneless when her tense muscles started to lax. Dipping his head and guiding her arms up over his shoulders, he kissed her as she gripped onto his hair to ground her in this moment.

"I can't wait to completely be yours," Rey said against his lips and Ben groaned, snaking his arm under her thigh before gripping onto her hip. With this new position and with the weight of her words rushing over his still yearning heart, his peak was also mounting.

As they breathed in the other's air, so close that their chests were almost touching, and Ben snapped his hips in time with her gasping breaths, Rey continued to whisper her feelings of need for him, her love and acceptance, and her eagerness to be completely bound to him. But it was when she grazed her teeth across his jaw and open her mind to him that Ben was able to fall over the edge and spill within her as he buried himself as deep as was physically possible.

He held her close for a long moment, thinking that if he were to pull away, that he would certainly lose a piece of himself along with the loss of her warmth. So they allowed their heart rates to slow, their breathing to return to a regular rhythm, while they shared deep gazes and kisses filled with longing.

When his soft cock finally slid from within her, they both groaned at the loss, but with one last kiss and with running his hands from her breasts to her hips, Ben helped Rey down from her perch.

Knowing that her panties were mostly in shambles, Rey padded over to her pile of discarded clothes, shivering at the cold of the hangar. Their combined slick was gathering on her inner thighs and she desperately needed a shower, knowing that before long a very noticeably wet shot would show on her light colored bottoms.

Ben also dressed, tucking himself back into his pants and took just an extra moment to watch Rey bend over to retrieve her pants, loving the site of her round ass and how her legs were glistening with the evidence of their lovemaking.

Not having felt the chill when Ben's warm body was encompassing her, Rey's teeth started to chatter as she pulled on her tunic, having only wrapped her breast band around her chest in a haphazard manner. His scent hit her before the warmth of the surcoat, as Ben walked up behind her and draped the thick material over her shoulders.

"Let's get you back to the shuttle," Ben said as he came around the front of her, grabbing the lapels of his coat and wrapping her small body in the large garment.

Rey looked up at his face, a small smile was playing on his lips and only when his eyes flicked up to meet her gaze did she speak. "Tell me this isn't a dream…"

He sighed and dipped lower, pressing his forehead to hers. The Force around them vibrated and they both sucked in a breath at the feeling. "There isn't a time or dimension where I won't want you. I just wish…" he sighed again and his eyes slid closed. "I just wish I had met you eight years ago."

When she giggled, Ben's eyes shot open and he pulled his face away from hers, looking upon her bashful expression. "I would have been fourteen and most likely be scared of you."

At times he forgot about their age difference and how improper it would have been for a man in his twenties to be trailing after a child like a lovesick welp. "Scared of me?"

Her cheeks heated, "You are very handsome and I was…boyish and half starved."

His brows pinched together as he tried to remember the type of man he was back before the incident at the academy, and the only word that came to mind was _lost_. Rey reached up and cupped his cheek, "We were brought together exactly when the Force deemed it so."

Ben's expression didn't soften and almost became pained. The words he was dying to speak stuck in his throat, but they were clear across the bond, ' _But Han_ …'

Some of the last words spoken by Luke Skywalker to Ben on the salt flats of Crait ran ever true. Ben…no Kylo had struck down his father in anger and frustration, he had wanted to prove himself not only to Snoke, but to the Darkside, to feel as worthy of the dark power as Vader had, but the deed had split him in two. The pain of his actions would live with him forever and even with his pull back to the Light, finding balance within Rey, and guiding the galaxy into peace, no amount of atonement could ever heal the wound that had festered since Starkiller.

Many times he had wanted to dip into the Cosmic Force and look into the future, part of him curious, the other part terrified that one day his own child would be fated with such a deed. After returning from Endor he had vowed upon his grandfather's helm that he would never fully walk the path of the Darkside, that he wouldn't give his legacy cause to strike down their father, and that he would teach and practice within the gray with his Empress, soon to be wife, and future mother of his children.

Hearing his words through the bond and also feeling his grief, Rey rolled up on her toes and softly pressed her lips to his, sending all of her love, devotion, forgiveness, and hope over to him.

He used to stoke this kind of pain for power, used to steep in it until his heart and Force signature was as dark as his mind, but Rey would no longer allow him to drown in the depths. Rey was his lifeline, his light guiding the way to the surface, and while he was thankful for that Rey would always be there for him, at times he wished that Snoke was still around to provide the adequate and deserved punishment through the nerve torching lightening that Kylo had come accustomed to.

Rey saw that she was starting to lose him to the darkness that would always swirl just under the surface and she reached out of the surcoat, threading her fingers with his, bringing him back with her light. Once his far off gaze landed back on her, Rey started to pull him back towards the airlock that separated the hangar where the MK3 was docked from Hangar B.

The group of guards were still stationed just outside of the shuttle and they stood at attention when they saw Ren and Rey approached.

"I just need to thank Mr. Purkis for his discretion and also tell him about a few calibrations that the TIEs need and then we can be off." Ben leaned down and kissed the crown of her head before he stalked across the hangar and disappeared into the hall.

"So how was it?" Arlan asked as she came up to Rey.

"What…how…" Rey stammered and her cheeks flamed red, "How was what?"

"The Silencer," Arlan slowly clarified, narrowing her eyes at her Empress with suspicion.

"Oh!" Rey almost shouted. "It as amazing. Ben has really outdone himself with those fighters."

The trooper still wore a disbelieving expression. "What did you think I was talking about?"

Rey now felt overly warm in the extra layer of the coat and she bit at her lip for a moment. A part of her was sad because she wanted to comm Rose right away and tell her about the engagement, but that was impossible. While Rey wasn't sure if Ben would approve of her sharing such a personal part of their lives with one of the guards, he had stated that he wished for Rey to find a friend in Arlan. So with some resolve, Rey's face broke into a giddy smile and she half laugh, half cried, "Ben proposed…"

Arlan was speechless. She knew that they have been calling Rey ' _Empress_ ' for a few months now and figured that it made sense for Ren to be married to Rey before announcing her position to the galaxy, but what she wouldn't have given to be a fly on the wall of Hangar B.

Having already taken enough time in her own head, Arlan finally reacted, returning her friend's smile in kind and reaching for Rey's left hand. "Let me see the ring."

Both woman's faces fell at the bare hand between them, "He didn't give me one…not that I could wear anything like that around the Resistance base…"

"What's going on?" Cale asked as he came trotting down the ramp of the shuttle.

"Ren and Rey are engaged," Arlan answered.

Cale stopped short and then a smile bloomed across his face, "About damn time."

The other guards came around, offering their kind sentiments to Rey when Ben came walking back up. "What's all this?" He asked of the group.

The new Knight broke away, holding out his hand, gripping around his Master's forearm and clasping his hand on Ben's shoulder. "Congrats on the engagement."

Ben's face felt a little hot as he looked over at his bride to be, still picturing her falling apart under his hearty thrusts against the TIE. "Thank you, Cale," he just answered simply, returning his Knight's masculine embrace.

"No ring?" Arlan accused from her spot next to Rey.

Mentally cursing himself, Ben knew that after Naboo he should have started to carry around the piece that Malkolm had crafted for him. So he let his gaze shift from Arlan to Rey and his expression felt almost panicked. "I have a ring…not on me…but there is a ring…I promise."

Arlan smirked, "I wouldn't thinking that our Empress deserved anything less."

When Rey laughed from behind her hand, Ben could tell that he was being teased. What has that beautifully, stubborn, and confounding woman done to him? In his younger years he had fought until his opponent was bloody and unmoving for just the slightest of jests, but now his guards were causing him to stutter and blush.

So he took a commanding stance and pointed to each trooper, giving them their orders. "Get the pre-flight checks done and let's get the shuttle back out into the 'verse."

Each of the three guards and the new Knight gave a bow or a salute of some kind before they went about their duties. Ben walked up to Rey, sweeping her up into his arms bridal style and carried her on to the Command Shuttle. His memory was drawn back to when he had stalked onto the MK2 with her limp body in his arms, which was a vast difference from now when she was tangling her fingers in the hair at the base of his neck and planting light kisses along his jaw.

He went straight to their quarters, only setting her down when they were behind closed doors. "Where to Empress?" Ben asked as pressed his lips to hers.

Rey hummed happily into the kiss, "First I need a shower…"

Ben moved his lips down her jaw to her neck as he snaked his right hand beyond the waistband of her pants. His fingers threaded through her curls before he was met with the wetness that was still gathered between her thighs. Sliding his middle finger between her folds, Ben felt both of their textures and he wanted nothing more than to push his seed back into her and let it do its work.

In doing just that, and pushing his long finger into her up to the third knuckle, Ben smiled into her skin as she gripped at his shoulders and let out a deep breathy moan. "Where do you want to go?" He asked again, his hot breath against the soft spot just behind her ear. "I'll take you anywhere," he vowed.

With a few other panting breaths, Rey wove her fingers into the hair on either side of his head, pulling his lips away from her neck with a sloppy pop to make him look at her, his brown eyes almost glowing with hunger. "Take me home Ben," her words with firm but wanting.

Through the bond, Ben could see that she didn't mean Orinda where her shuttle was waiting to take her back to the Resistance and she didn't mean her decaying AT-AT Walker on Jakku. Rey was asking him to take her to _their_ home on Coruscant and he mused that if his body could physically be caused pain by the intensity of his love for her, he would suffer each day to never experience life without her light in it.

Even though she groaned and tried to hold his wrist in place, Ben pulled his hand from between her legs and picked her up, carrying her to the fresher. Calling quickly into his comm, he let Arlan know to set course for the city world in the Core and he went to work undressing Rey and getting her under the warm spray of the shower.

He washed her soft skin, taking extra time as he dropped to his knees to run the fragrant Naboo soap that his cousin had gifted them up and down Rey's legs. By the time she was pulling at his hair and clawing at his hips, her breaths were only coming out in harsh pants. So he took her to bed, working her body into a frenzy with his hands, mouth, and finally sheathing himself within her.

As he pushed down on the space between the crests of her hips and could feel his cock stretching her cunt with each thrust, he realized that she loved the sensations just as much as he did. This only drove him to rock his hips forward with more precision so that he could stroke at the places deep within her core that caused her breath to catch and an almost pained expression to pinch on her face.

Rey begged for release, grabbing for his hands, placing one on her breast and the other at her throat. Reaching down between them, she took her sensitive clit between her middle and forefinger, alternating with pressure and lazy strokes.

She peaked right as the ship was pushed into hyperspace on the Corellian Run. The shift in the Force around them as the shuttle moved at unfathomable speeds made her skin buzz and just as her body started to spasm, Ben grunted out his release.

After lying there for a long while, they showered again and Rey asked Ben to promise that they would refrain from any other activities that would require yet another go in the fresher. He only smirked and refused to give his word.

But for the remainder of the short ride back to the Core, they sat curled up on the couch together going over the plans for the Sector Governors, how their new laws would be enforced, and how the peace would be kept.

It was dark when they finally broke the atmosphere on Coruscant and they touched down on the landing deck of their high rise without incident. Instead of donning her own cloak, Rey just pulled one of Ben's cowls over her head and situated the hood so that her face would be concealed. Now that news was out that the Emperor was courting a young lady, Ben had told her that it wasn't uncommon for Cale to shoot down holodrones multiple times a day.

So they hurried across the tarmac and into the building, but with the sound of a soft whirl above them, Rey wouldn't be surprised if there was a new photo of Kylo Ren sneaking his mystery woman into his penthouse home.

She tried not to pay that prospect any mind and perhaps that was why Rey didn't sense the other life form in the apartment when she stood in the entry pulling the cowl off her shoulders.

A movement off to the left caused Ben to take a few steps forward, pushing Rey behind him and his saber was in hand and ignited in only the span of a breath.

"Irris?" He questioned as his cousin Queen came sauntering out of the kitchen like she owned the place, all the while popping a piece of chocolate into her mouth.

With large eyes, Irris sucked the melted candy off her thumb before squealing and running with quick dainty steps over to Rey, wrapping her arms around the other woman's neck. "I have heard the happy news!"

Dumbfounded, Ben looked between Rey and his guards who had also drawn their weapons upon their Master's defensive stance. Letting his arm hang at his side, he extinguishes the blade of his lightsaber with a sigh, "What are you doing here Irris?"

Finally releasing the Empress, Irris turned to her cousin, "I was on Chandrila for business and when Davin sent me a comm with news of the engagement, I just had to pop on over." Her expression was all smiles and excitement, not phased at all by the fact that just moments ago five weapons had been pointed at her.

But also at her explanation, five brows rose and five sets of eyes cut to the guard who was turning the same shade of red as a Jaquira fruit. "Davin sends you comms…" the statement hung with just the edge of a question as Ben turned his gaze from his guard to his cousin.

"Oh, all the time," Irris gushed. "You would never guess it by looking at him, but my Davin is quite the poet."

"Your Majesty," Davin hissed lowly from across the room, now breaking out into a nervous sweat.

Irris looked around Ben and saw her beau shifting on his feet as if he was about to sprint from the room. "Well, I can see you are all tired from your journey so I will take my leave."

"There are guest quarters one level down," Rey offered.

The Queen was already halfway across the room but turned back, "I'm sure Davin can show me the way." A lovely smirk crossed her pink lips, "Only if you are done with him for the night that is…"

Rey nodded, "Of course, it is getting rather late."

"I'll see you in the morning, Rey. I'm taking you dress shopping." Then just as quickly and with just as much flair, Irris swept from the room, a black-clad trooper in her wake.

"Jeez," Cale whistled. "We might be bowing to him as the consort to Naboo's Queen before we publicly acknowledge our Empress."

The words were made in jest but they also stung. Rey started to feel horrible for stinging Ben along for so many months and tears welled in her eyes.

Ben noticed this…Ben noticed everything about Rey and so with a curt nod, he dismissed his Knight and the two remaining guards. His next move was over to his fiancée, wrapping her up in his arms before any of her tears could fall.

He carried her to their sleeping quarters, setting her down gently on the edge of the bed and started to undress her. The fashion in which he removed her clothing was not one of intimate desire, but one of nurturing care. Once she was nude, he pulled a soft blanket off the foot of the bed and wrapped it around her shoulders, not wanting her to catch a chill while he retrieved a nightgown from her closet.

Helping her stand, the silk of the gown fell just above her knees. Through all of this Rey wasn't able to meet his gaze, unwilling to accept his forgiveness or understanding. Finally, when she no longer had the strength to stand, Rey fell back to her seated position on the edge of the bed. Her bottom lip quivered and she tried her hardest to steady her voice, "I am so sorry Ben…"

Before he could speak, Ben dropped to his knees in front of Rey, grabbing both of her cold hands between his warm palms. "You have nothing to be sorry for. You know Cale speaks without thinking…"

"I have wasted so much of our time," she sniffed and thought back to the lack of progress she had made with Poe and the Resistance. Perhaps it was her inherent drive to not give up on the idea of a peaceful end to the war or the stubbornness that caused her to take dangerous risks like scaling the outside of a Destroyer for a part or pointing a saber at Luke Skywalker before delivering herself into the clutches of Snoke.

"We needed this time Rey," Ben tried to comfort her even though the words tasted of half-truth. "You needed this time…"

This made her cry harder, his acknowledgment that it was indeed her spitefulness that prolonged their separation. "Two ninety-one," she wailed. "I should have just stayed with you after Mygeeto."

His heart was breaking and he wasn't completely sure what to say or how to make this better, so he just shifted forward on his knees, situating his large torso between her legs as he wrapped his arms around her middle and pulled them together. With his head resting on her chest, his ear pressed right over her heart, Ben just held Rey as she cradled his head and cried into his hair.

As much as he wanted to open the bond and wash her with love and comfort, Ben knew that in his mind and in his heart, he was conflicted. If he had known that after Mygeeto when they had come together for the first time when Rey had fully given herself to him when they had made love in the carved crystal room, that she wanted to stay, he would have never let her go. But she left him and each time they parted after that had torn at them both and now Rey was confessing that she regretted each time.

What was he to do with this information? Now that he knew the past six months of hiding, of sneaking around the galaxy, of swearing his guards to secrecy, were for nothing more than being in the same stalemate with the Resistance General and his pack of vengeful New Republic exiles. Perhaps Rey's conscience had been mollified during this time, so when she finally walked away from the people she once thought were going to be friends…her family, she could start her new life with no second-guessing, never feeling like there was more she could do.

"One day I hope they realize the sacrifices you have made for peace because I am grateful." As he spoke, Ben turned his head so that he could look up into her saddened hazel eyes.

Rey reached down and placed the palms of her hands on each of his cheeks before bending down and lightly pressing her lips to his. "Thank you for waiting for me."

Ben gave a soft smile, "Up until a little over a year ago, I always felt like I was missing a piece of myself. I thought that a connection to my grandfather, a connection to the Darkside would fill the void, but it was you…it has always been you." When more fat tears rolled down her cheeks, he swept them away with the pads of his coarse fingers. "I waited over thirty years for you…what's a few more months?"

"Months?" Rey half laughed, half cried. "The second I can get away from Dantooine again, I am going to marry you, Ben Solo. After that, I will make one last effort for peace and if Poe is too stupid to take it, then I am done."

"You're done?" Ben said in a hopeful tone.

Now Rey was able to return his smile, although her eyes were glassy and her nose was raw, she also held hope in her expression. "I will be your wife. I will be your Empress. I will be your Light…" she kissed him between each exclamation. "But most importantly…I will be at your side."

With a final kiss, she sealed her vow to Ben and was swept up in his arms before being pressed into their bed where she was lavished with his large hands and full lips until they both fell into a blissful sleep wrapped up in each other.

* * *

 **AN: I'm not sure if I can do 3 updates a week. I was missing the Friday ones all the time because I was spending my nights documenting for work instead of writing for fun. So now that we are on the home stretch, I will try to update twice a week. I'm thinking we have about 5 parts left...**


	30. Part XXX

**AN: Thank you everyone for being so understanding with the long gap between chapters. Real life and work has been kicking my ass. I hope to get back into the swing of things over the next few weeks. Your kind words always overwhelm me.**

* * *

 **Part XXX**

Rey woke the next morning to a cold and empty bed which caused a pout to form on her lips and a whimper to escape her throat. Last night, wrapping in Ben's arms, she had been so warm…almost too warm, but she didn't dare try to wiggle from his slumbering embrace. After all she was used to hot nights, her AT-AT almost acting like an oven in the summers and also having to deal with the ever malfunction climate control system on the Resistance Base.

There was a knock at the door and with a haphazard wave of her hand, the door opened and Arlan poked her head into the room. "Good morning Rey."

Sitting up in the bed with her back resting on the plush headboard, Rey smiled when Arlan finally used her name. _It only took four months_ , Rey mused to herself as the corners of her mouth turned up. "Morning," she answered back, taking the cup of caf that was being held out for her.

Patting the bed in a gesture to tell Arlan to sit with her and with niceties out of the way, Rey didn't feel guilty for asking the question that had been itching on her tongue since she woke. "Where's Ben?"

Arlan smiled, remembering her Emperor asking the same on Naboo when Rey had woke before him. She almost envied how in love Rey and Ren were but she also wasn't blind to Tyris and his longing gazes. "He was up before dawn and only said that he had some business to attend to and that he would be home for dinner."

"Business?" Rey asked, not remembering Ben mentioning anything about having to attend to any official meetings, but then again, she had also unexpectedly asked him to bring her to their home after what was supposed to be a quick rendezvous.

"I don't know much more than that, but he left you in my charge and I have already received comms from Davin that the Queen is anxious to get you out into the city and into a dress."

Rey groaned and Arlan smirked. "I think I'm going to need more caf," Rey downed what was in her mug before she threw back the blankets and slid out of the bed.

Watching Rey move towards the fresher, Arlan stood from the bed quickly, remembering Ren's words of warning about staying out of his and the Empress' private quarters. She had understood Rey's leeriness at first, Ren was a good looking man with all the power in the galaxy, and as part of his personal guard, Arlan knew him better than most. But the simple trooper from Utapau wouldn't trade places with Rey for all the credits in the Core because she had witnessed that their love was as gentle and pure as it was fierce and conflicted.

"I'll have Tyris make you something to eat," Arlan called as she made to leave.

"Thank you," Rey said, peeking out from the fresher, thankful that she wouldn't have to spend the day alone, waiting and unknowing of Ben's whereabouts.

As she showered, Rey thought about everything that had transpired the prior day. She was engaged and had to pinch herself to ensure that she truly wasn't dreaming. The weight of the promises she made last night were also swimming and she took a steady breath, becoming even more steadfast in her decision to marry Ben and then leave the Resistance. She had already given them enough of herself and now it was time for her to live and to make a real difference for people who would actually welcome her help.

She also cursed herself for being so tired that she didn't feel Ben leave their bed, but she also had to remind herself that before he was a lumbering Dark Knight, he was a stealthy Jedi. After taking part in Cale's Knighting, Rey wondered if Ben had ever completed his Jedi training, achieving Knighthood in the Light as well as in the Dark.

But through the chaotic power of Ben's saber, a fire had been lit, somehow a distant yearning bloomed and Rey now wished to have such an honor bestowed upon her. When she finally stood as Empress, she would not want to be treated like a delicate flower. She wanted to be Ben's equal on every front and that included passing whatever test that would put her on her knees before him, the heat of a lightsaber cresting each of her shoulders as she spoke the words that were now burned in her mind.

Rey giggled to herself, thinking that maybe she shouldn't shower alone anymore. When Ben was with her, he distracted her racing mind in the most divine way that only he could, but when she was alone, she seemed to come up with even more grand plans for her future that for some reason, still felt just slightly out of reach.

Instead of letting the pressure of her pending ambitions weigh down on her, Rey put them all away in the little spaces in her mind where she hid all of the plans that both excited and terrified her.

Out of the fresher and standing in front of her closet, Rey wasn't sure what Irris had in store for her so she just shrugged on a longer robe and padded across the apartment and into the kitchen.

"Oh good, you're up," Irris quipped from the dining table as she stood from her chair and rounded the counter top before coming and kissing each of Rey's cheeks.

"Is it late?" Rey asked, finally looking around for the time. When she saw that it was barely past 0700 she groaned and but was ever grateful when Arlan handed her another large mug of caf.

Irris flicked her wrist in a nonchalant manner, "I must still be on Naboo time, but do get on with your breakfast so that we can get out on the town."

Tyris gave his Empress a sideways grace that made Rey's lips turn up at the corners as she smirked into her caf. All the same, he planted up some eggs, toast, and fruit for all three ladies before Davin announced himself while entering the apartment.

"Where is Cale?" Rey questioned.

Tyris and Davin shared a look, "He went with Ren and the rest of the Knights."

"Oh," Rey said, bitting at her lip. She tried not to think too much about what that bit of information meant, assuring herself that the Knights must go out on missions all the time, or perhaps it was a celebratory trip that was part of the tradition with new Knighthoods.

As she slowly chewed her breakfast, not really tasting any of it, but knowing that she would need the calories to keep up with Irris for the day, Rey appraised the dress of the Queen. "You almost look normal without the make up and jewels," Rey remarked.

Squaring her posture in the chair at the head of the table, Irris smiled as if taking the observation as a complement. "Then my girls have done their job well." Stabbing a piece of melon and seeing the confused look on the Empress' face, Irris chewed and swallowed before continuing, "We are to look like common people today. The press have seen Ben sneaking a woman into my palace. If you show up on my arm, it will all but confirm that woman is you."

"There are already holovids of the shuttle landing from last night and I had to take down three drones this morning," Davin relayed before taking a sip of caf.

"Is this a good idea?" Rey asked with a weary expression, "Us going out?"

Irris waved her hand, "We will just be some upper-level ladies out on the town with our boyfriends and helping our newly engaged friend find a dress."

"Boyfriends?" Arlan asked after choking on some dry toast.

"Ben gave very unarguable instructions that Davin and Tyris are to accompany us out into the city." Irris pointed her fork between Arlan and Tyris, "You two can keep up appearances, can't you?"

Davin snickers into his caf as Tyris turned red up to his ears. Rey also tried to hide her smile but shared a knowing look with Arlan.

The female guard sat up straighter, pretending to be unfazed by the comment. "We've gone incognito before. I'm up for it if he is." The only thing that gave Arlan away was the quick flick of her gaze as it shifted from Rey to the blonde man still standing in the kitchen before landing on her plate as a blush touched to tops of her tanned cheeks.

Irris's lips were pressed into a tight smile as she winked at Davin. "All that is left is for her Imperial Majesty to get dressed."

It was a good thing that Rey was a quick eater and with one last gulp of caf she set her mug down on the table. "Okay, okay. I'm going," she said in mock annoyance before inclining her head towards Arlan. The guard stood without a word and followed Rey out of the kitchen.

Once they were behind the door of the sleeping quarters, Rey rounded, "Are you sure you are up for this? I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

Arlan walked over to the closet, pulled back the door and started to shift through tunics. "It's fine really. I'm not blind…or deaf for that fact. I've heard Cale and Davin pocking fun at Ty and I've seen the way he looks at me when he thinks I don't notice."

Rey came up behind her friend and placed her hand on the other woman's shoulder. "And do you share his affections?" Rey was brought back to the many times over the past year that she had to flat out tell men around the Resistance base that she was not interested. Stinging along a man almost always ended in disaster.

Shrugging her shoulders Arlan handed a pair of white leggings and a taupe tunic to Rey. "He's a great guy…" she mused before looking off with a slight smile on her lips. "He's funny and considerate…"

"And handsome," Rey adds, trying to catch her friend's eye.

Arlan blushed again. "So you've noticed," she said in a playful voice.

Rey now had to outright laugh and it felt good to be carefree…to be happy in this aspect of her life, and she hoped that she could retain this feeling as the permanence of her decision mounted. Her heart only hurt a little at the possibility of Rose and Finn never talking to her again, but for now she had _this_ friend's heart to consider. "Perhaps beauty was mandated to be part of Ben's guard unit." Now it was Rey's turn to blush, "Why do you think I was so jealous when I first came here?"

"You have to believe me that nothing has ever transpired between Ren and me…" Arlan's gaze was pleading for understanding.

"I know…" Rey sighed, cursing her past insecurities for ruining what was supposed to be a compliment. "I was trying to say that you are lovely and any man…or woman would be blessed to have you."

Now Arlan looked down at the floor before turning back to the closet to pick out a pair of shoes. "I've been a trooper my whole life," she started and pulled out a pair of nude booties. Behind her, Rey had shed her robe and being only clad in panties, Arlan was glad that the Empress felt so comfortable in her company, remembering their awkward moment back on Naboo. "We weren't really given the luxury of expressing our feelings…let alone dating."

Both women gave soft giggles as Rey shimmied into the leggings. "But now it doesn't seem that Ben is opposed to fraternization, especially since his cousin is obviously having her way with Davin."

"It's not that…" Arlan picked up the discarded robe from the bed and hung it up on the back of the closet door.

After smoothing out the thick cotton tunic, Rey walked the few steps over to Arlan, reaching out to touch her friend's upper arm. "You can talk to me," Rey reassured.

"I know," Arlan was bashful again. "It's just that we weren't shown…taught about love…What it is, how to react to it, how to reciprocate."

Rey's expression softened. While the children that became troopers were provided with clothes, a warm place to sleep, and steady meals, they too were orphans. She doubted that barracks leaders showed any type of affection towards their charges and for all she knew, Arlan had her very own Plutt that haunted her childhood.

Moving her hand from Arlan, Rey grasped both of her hands and turned the trooper so that they were facing each other. "Then you are just as lost as the rest of us," Rey said in a light joking tone.

"You and the Emperor make it look so effortless," Arlan argued.

A discrediting look now painted Rey's expression. "My relationship with Ben is anything but effortless…and I'm sure he would say the same of me." Rey wasn't ignorant to her own stubbornness.

"But you both are so in love…"

"Yes we are, but you weren't around in the early days when he was kidnapping me and I was slicing his face open with a lightsaber," Rey mused.

Arlan giggled, "We all wondered how he got the scar."

Rey returned the smile, "Relationships take patience, understanding, forgiveness, and sometimes love just sneaks up on you."

"When did you know you loved Ren?" Arlan asked with equal parts curiosity and embarrassment at such a personal question.

"I knew that I was attracted to him the first time he took off that insufferable mask on Starkiller."

"Who can blame you," Arlan quipped with a smirk.

If only awkwardly tall teenaged Ben could hear them fawning over his features now, Rey thought to herself. "I knew I would love him…one day…when we were connected through the Force on Ahch-To. I knew he was someone worth fighting for on the _Supremacy_. I knew he was changing into the man that I could love as he courted me through the Force." Rey took a steady breath, "I knew I loved him when we finally found balanced within each other.

"But we are a little different," Rey moved to the bed, sitting on the edge and pulling on the booties that Arlan had set out for her. "I'm pretty sure that we were destined in the Force to end up here since conception."

"So you have no free will over who you would spend the rest of your life with?"

Rey slightly frowned, "The path was our choice but I think the destination was always going to be this…but I am content to not know any other love but his."

"And what about us who don't have the Force?"

"Everyone is connected to the Force, we are all pieces of a whole, but my advice would be to trust your heart. It may lead you to do crazy and reckless things, but it can also allow you to open up to the possibility of something amazing."

Arlan nodded her head with an accepting but tight smile. "Now we should go before Irris sends out a search party."

The two women walked back to the kitchen seeing that Davin and Tyris were changed into civilian clothes and Irris came in from the terrace, clapping her hands and shooing everyone back towards the entry.

They took the lift down a floor to the enclosed hangar, passed by the sleek craft that Ben had taken her to the Temple in as it only sat two, and instead, the men ushered the women into a slightly larger airspeeder. The exterior of the ship was sliver with no flags or insignias to indicate it was a vehicle for the royal or Imperial family. The interior was covered in soft cream-colored leather and the three ladies took up the rear while Davin and Tyris situated themselves in the pilot's compartment.

"Here my dear," Irris said to Rey. "Let me do something with that hair."

As the Queen pushed at her shoulders, Rey turned her back to Irris and almost moaned when nimble fingers went to work combing out and braiding her hair that now came down to her mid back.

"The Emperor wanted you to have these…" Arlan offered, holding out two gold cards that easily fit into Rey's palm.

Davin bought the speeder to life and pulled up to the hangar doors. Pushing a few buttons on his wrist-worn comm unit, he gave the order for the troopers on the top deck to activate the electromagnetic pulse device that would interrupt any holo drones that may be flying around the building. Once he got the all clear, the bay doors opened and Davin inconspicuously merged into upper-level traffic.

In the passenger compartment Rey looked down at the cards, "Did he say how much was on them?"

Irris giggled as she pushed a final pin into Rey's hair. "As if that man could ever put a limit on something that brings you happiness." When the Empress turned to look over her shoulder at Irris, the Queen just shrugged, "This is your wedding dress. You only get to experience this once…unless…"

"No," Rey understood Irris' hanging question. "Ben is it for me. There will never be anyone else."

"Well there you have it," Irris confirmed. "Apart from your coronation dress, this will but the most memorably gown you will ever wear. Have you thought about where you will wed?"

Rey bit at her lip. She had been engaged for less than a standard day and now a little bit of fear was starting to set in. "I don't know," she finally answered while picking at her nails. "I want to marry him as soon as possible and it will need to be private." Truthfully she didn't know what all was involved in a wedding beyond what she had seen on her stories on the holonet.

She was sure that she didn't want anything grand and she also was curious of any marriage traditions of the Jedi, Sith, or within the Force. All questions that she would have to set aside to ask Ben when he returned from whatever business had pulled him away.

"So think of this dress as something just for you and just for Ben. It should make you feel like an Empress, like a woman so incandescently in love, like you could conquer worlds in it, and let's not forget that it should make Ben fall to his knees at the same time." She ended her speech with a mischievous glint in her eye.

"That's quite a tall order," Rey surmised.

Irris patted at Rey's thigh, "O ye, of little faith."

They had ventured further into the city center and Davin pulled up along a bay door. A floating droid came up and scanned a card that the guard produced from an inside coat pocket and then the hangar opened and they were guided into an enclosed parking area much like the one in their building.

Tyris was the first out of the speeder while Davin shut down the flight systems. With the passenger hatch open, Tyris helped the Empress out first and the next time his hand reached into the speeder, Arlan was putting her fingers into his warm palm as she stepped out next to Rey. He may have swiped his thumb along his guard mate's knuckles as he helped her from the speeder, and she may have ducked her head with a shy smile at the gesture.

Davin finally came around and extended his hand to Irris before she hooked her hand into the crook of his elbow. "Shall we?" Irris asked.

As if on instinct, the guards fell into formation. Tyris walked ahead as sentry, being the chivalrous man to help the ladies avoid oil puddles or hold open doors, Arlan linked arms with Rey, appearing to be just two girlfriends embarking on a day of shopping, while Davin not only held guard over the Empress of the New Order but also the Queen of Naboo.

Doing his duty, Tyris held open the heavy glass door and a chipper blonde in a fitted black dress approached the group. "Welcome to Kodai Corse."

"We are going to need a room," Irris said, strolling into the brightly lit store like she owned more than half of the stock in the company.

But the sales woman took it all in stride. Since the Emperor of the New Order had taken charge and the war was all but over, more planets were prospering, royals and dignitaries finally felt safe enough to leave their home worlds and come to Coruscant for the latest fashions. The young woman couldn't help but join in with the rest of the galaxy in celebration of peace after such a long period of civil turmoil.

So with a confident but easy smile, the blonde led them across the show room and Rey had never seen so much white, cream, and pearlized fabric in her life. The room they were taken to had white and silver damask wall coverings and deep blue couches. "My name is Tiali and I will be assisting the bride to be…"

When the sales woman held out her hand, Rey only stepped forward when Irris nudged her in the back with an elbow. "That would be me. I'm Rey."

Tiali smiled at the young but well put together woman and gave a polite hand shake. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Rey." She then turned to the two men standing in attendance, "Are either of you the fiancé?"

"No," Rey answered for the group. "My fiancé," the word still felt foreign on her tongue, "is away on business."

"Well then," Tiali quipped. "Men stay out here and women with me."

The ladies were ushered through another door and into a room slightly larger than the receiving room that Tyris and Davin had been left in. The same navy couch sat along one wall while a round platform and three side mirror took up the majority of the far corner.

A droid rolled into the receiving room holding out a bottle of champagne to the men. "None for us," Davin replied, knowing that they needed to keep their wits about them. "But the ladies are through there."

Irris clapped with glee when the navy and gold droid came in with a familiar green bottle resting in a silver ice bucket and a handful of crystal flutes.

"Now Rey, please come up here so I can scan in your measurements," Tiali asked and motioned to the raised stand.

Rey looked over her shoulder when it was requested that she strip to her underthings. Irris took a slow sip of the bubbling drink, "I get dressed with eight people watching me each day. Nothing to be shy about."

Arlan tried to turn down the glass of champagne but Irris shoved a flute into the guard's hand as they watched Tiali help Rey removed her tunic and leggings before small droids started to circle around her, red beams scanning every curve of her body and relayed the figures to a datapad in Tiali's hands. After the droids flew back into a panel in the wall, Rey was offered a skin robe to wear and Tiali excused herself to pick out some dresses.

Over the next hour, Rey was shoved into dresses made of satin, silk, charmeuse, chiffon, organza, tulle, and lace. Some were short, others had impossibly long trains, while the necklines fluctuated from suffocating to nonexistent. Her shoulders were starting to hurt from the weight of some of the more elaborate beading while her rib cage had been pinched into more corseted bodices that she could count.

Starting to get frustrated and feeling overall dejected, Rey was ready to give up and just marry Ben in the nude if she had to, even though she had an inward musing that Ben wouldn't mind her in this state of undress.

Tiali was buttoning up perhaps the last dress that Rey would be able to stand for the day when Irris let out a high pitched scream.

Rey spun around just in time to see Davin and Tyris slam through the door. Arlan had jumped to her feet, spilling her champagne on the gold carpeting, Tiali squeaked and held her hands over her chest with fright.

"Emp…Rey…" Davin stammered while looking around the room trying to assess for any threat.

"What the hell Irris?" Rey said from her spot up on the raised platform.

"Sorry," she giggled offhandedly. "It's just that dress is perfect!" Perhaps the bubbly drink may have gone to the Queen's head.

Rey looked down at the layers of delicate lace that wrapped around her torso and fell away from her waist. "This one?" She questioned, turning back around to look at her self in the mirror.

The neckline of the dress was high, wrapping halfway up her throat but that did not mean the bodice was meek by any means. The tight weave of the lace that crossed her chest was just a ghost of cream colored coverage. Embroidered and beaded flowers ran down from that capped sleeves to between her pert breasts while the same design came up from the flared waste, only just covering the rosy hue of her nipples.

Layers of sheer, embroidered, and beaded lace fell from her hips but she could still see the tan of her lean legs through the dress. As she looked at herself in the mirror again, Irris' words from earlier echoed. She felt delicate and feminine but also powerful and knew that if she walked into any room wearing this gown that she would command every person's attention.

"What do you think?" Rey asked, meeting Arlan's gaze in the mirror.

"It's beautiful Rey."

"Ty? Davin?"

The men shifted on their feet, feeling torn between knowing that they shouldn't stare but also being unable to tear their gaze from their beautiful Empress wrapped in cream lace. "Any man would be lucky to have their bride looking as you do now…" Tyris voice became dry near the end of his sentence as his gaze shifted from the soft curves of Rey's back and hips to Arlan's cutting eyes.

"They are being modest," Irris said, standing from the couch and walking up onto the platform next to Rey. She fingered the lace sleeves before placing her hands around Rey's slim waist and rested her chin on her friend's shoulder. "Ben will fall to his knees at the mere sight of you," Irris whispered with a coy smile.

Rey returned the smile and appraised herself in the mirror one more time before nodding at Tiali, "This is the one."

The sales woman who had finally come down from the shock of the men barging into the room looked between the five people standing about and started to wonder who she had been dressing. Not recognizing the woman from any of the tabloids, Tiali made a mental note to look out for the petite brunette gracing the holonet in the Murad gown. "When do you need it by?"

"Four weeks," Rey answered automatically knowing that she could get off world for another supply run in a month's time. She also knew that it would giver her enough time to make one last go at Poe's better senses and hopefully usher him away from fanatics and towards peace.

"That's a little rushed," Tiali observed and then smirked at her client. "Perhaps there is a little one on the way."

Irris raised a brow from her position behind Rey, a tight smile on her lips, intrigued by the prospect.

"No," Rey was firm. "Nothing like that. We are just excited to start our lives together."

Tiali blushed, "My apologies. We would be honored to have your dress ready in four weeks. Now if the gentlemen would excuse us, I'll get Ms. Rey out of her beautiful wedding gown."

Davin and Tyris nodded and then went back out into the receiving room. Arlan settled back onto the couch but Irris kept her eyes on Rey for just a moment before she turned to the sales woman. "Can we have the room please?"

"It's against policy to leave a client in a dress…" Tiali gaze shifted from the three women.

Irris moved over to where Rey's clothes were hung up and fished the credit card out of the back pocket of the leggings before strutting back over to Tiali and held out the gold plastic between her middle and forefinger. "Why don't you go ring up the order and I will help my friend out of the gown."

Tiali took one more look at the women, seeing by their expressions that they were not accustomed to hearing 'no', so she just smiled and took the card, for some reason feeling the need to curtsey as she turned and left the room.

Arlan went to stand by the door giving the Queen and the Empress a sense of privacy. Irris went to stand behind Rey again and started to slip the lace covered buttons through their satin loops. "This should be a happy day, but you look like someone just handed down a life sentence."

Rey looked at her refection and saw Irris' kind brown eyes in the mirror. "I'm leaving the Resistance. As soon as I can after the wedding, I am leaving them behind to be with Ben."

"That sounds like wonderful news…"

"I have friends there. People I love and consider family and I am worried about them."

Irris sighed, "How much of your happiness are you willing to give them?"

"Not much more," Rey said as her shoulders slumped and the lace bodice slid down her chest.

"You may not have been born and raised to rule like many of the noble families of Naboo, but you have the heart of a warrior and the intuition that could only be forged under the challenges of your childhood. You were meant for this, meant to stand at Ben's side, meant to bring this galaxy back to harmony and prosperity."

Rey stepped out of the dress and Irris held it out for Arlan to take. "Look at yourself," Irris instructed as Rey stood in just a pair of panties. When the Empress tried to cross her arms over her chest, Irris placed her hand on Rey's shoulders, pulling them back slightly and then moved her hands to position Rey's arms at her sides.

"Neve be ashamed of who you are, where you came from, or what you want. You should be just as confident like this as you are when draped in silk and gems. Don't let anyone ever tell you that are anything less than an Empress."

Pulling her shoulders back just a little more, Rey tried to feel as sure of herself as she did when standing nude before Ben, when he looked at her like she was the sun, the moon, and the stars, when he declared his desperate love for her and then worships at the temple made of her flesh and bone. She tried to feel as grounded as the first time she reached out to the Force on Ahch-To, as steady and true as when she discovered the Force was with her on the cliff side on Starkiller under the burning gaze of the man she now loved more than her own breath.

As a sense of ease washed over her, Rey wondered if this is what Ben felt like on the _Supremacy_ when he made the decision to forsake his _Master_ for the love of a girl. She knew once she married Ben, once she left her friends and was crowed Empress, that there would be no going back and she would be damned if she was going to let some tyrannical First Order Officers see her as anything less than their sovereign, appointed and blessed within the Force to bring balance and peace.

Irris broke out into a smile when she watched an expression of resolve cross Rey's features and for a moment she thought back to when her mother had a similar conversation with her right before her coronation at age fourteen. A Queen guiding an Empress would most likely be frowned upon, but Irris and Rey were about to be family, and the feisty sovereign wished for Rey to see her as more of a sister than a subject of the galaxy's many realms.

"Good girl," Irris quipped and patted Rey on the rear with a light giggle. "Get dressed so that I can take you out to the best restaurant in the Core."

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 **AN: Your comments, reviews, follows, faves, and kudos make my freaking day! Please keep them coming...it makes the pain in my fingers worth while.**

 **Also, the dress is from the 2013 Fall/Winter collect of the designer Zuhair Murad, if you want to put a photo to Rey's wedding dress.**


	31. Part XXXI

**AN: Firstly I want to say how sorry I am for the delay. Over the past few weeks, anything that could go wrong in my life...has. I'm getting back into the swing of things and I hope that each of you enjoy this newest chapter.**

* * *

 **Part XXXI**

True to Irris' words, Tyris and Davin ushered them back into the speeder and then they ascended to one of the tallest buildings in the city where they were led into a private section of a restaurant situated on the top floor. The entire floor rotated, giving diners a three hundred and sixty degree view of the city world. They were so far up that Rey almost thought she could see the curve of the planet.

The conversation was light and Irris kept making insinuations between Arlan and Tyris, causing them both to blush and mumbled into their lunches.

Upon the Queen's recommendation, Rey ordered the quadduck from Irris' home world of Naboo and it was possibly the most tender meat she had ever eaten. The mashed turnips from Felucia, the yellow string beans from Tynna, and the fresh loaves made with wheat and rye from volcanic planes of Ryloth were a perfect symphony of flavors upon Rey's tongue.

She moaned around her fork more than she talked and for the first time in her life, Rey savored a meal, thinking that it would be a travesty if she was to spoil it with the ill manners of her childhood.

Irris' voice pulled Rey away from tart red sauce that adorned her plate. "So have you decided on an engagement gift?"

"A what?" Rey said as she patted her mouth with the white cloth napkin.

"It's tradition that when a couple gets engaged, that they exchange gifts. Now I don't believe there is _any_ good shopping on Dantooine so I suggest you take advantage of your time on Coruscant."

No matter how much Rey thought she was starting to fit into this life in the Core, she still had so much to learn. She cursed Jakku. She cursed the parents who left her on that desolate hell hole. She cursed Plutt, her lack of education, her lack of any semblance of normalcy.

But instead of letting the tears that were pooling in her eyes fall, she took a deep breath and smiled while nodding at the Queen.

The building that they were in had a complex a few floors down of shops and the three woman walked together as the men kept in step a few paces behind them. Rey walked along the right edge, looking into the beautifully decorated windows of each storefront. Gazing around, Rey also noticed other groups of women doing the same, but also observed the same look of wonder on Arlan's face and Rey was once again reminded of the sheltered life of the trooper.

Rey was resolved to have even more moments like this but with the hope that one day Rose's arm would be linked on her right just like Irris was linked on her left. The wishful vision…the dream was so vivid that Rey told Arlan and Irris about Rose. "I want her and her husband Finn to come live on Naboo, just over the rise from Varykino. I want us to raise our families together."

Irris smiled softly and patted at Rey's hand. "That sounds lovely dear. I'm sure it will all work out."

Feeling as though Irris was just pacifying her, Rey felt a little dejected. Over the past few months she had been weening between two lives and she was starting to be unsure which was more of a fantasy. Was she the New Order Empress, soon to be wife of who the galaxy knows as Kylo Ren, or was she the untrained and misnamed Jedi of the Resistance, mechanic and freight shuttle pilot?

Time and continued frustration proved that she could not be both, but she was going to do her best to keep the people she loved, on both sides, safe, alive, and ensure that they were given as many opportunities at happiness as Ben had granted to her.

As they rounded another corner and Rey finally came out of her musing, thankful that Irris didn't allow her to run into any walls, pillars, or the numerous fountains that littered the shopping area, her gaze was drawn to a storefront.

Rey broke away, "I'll be right back."

Arlan eyed Ty and Davin, but it was Irris who spoke, "Davin and I will go grab some caf across the way."

Tyris watched Rey duck into a brightly lit store before he turned to Arlan, "Ready to play your part, _bae_?"

The female guard looked down at Ty's offered hand, then back up to the jewelry story that Rey had just entered and blushed. "Only if you promise to buy me something, _muffin_."

Staggering before he could even take a stride, Tryis looked back at his companion, partly in horror and partly in surprise. " _Muffin_?"

Arlan blushed further, feeling her palm become sweaty in Ty's grip. "You're an excellent cook," she shrugged with embarrassment. "I just went with food…"

Squeezing their clasped hands, Tyris grinned down at Arlan. "I like it," he whispered. When her clear eyes met his gaze and the coyest of smiles painted her lips he continued, "But for the love of the Maker, don't ever call me that in front of Cale."

A light flutter turned in Arlan's stomach and she hoped beyond belief that it was the nervous butterflies that she heard about on the awful holo-opera that Rey made her watch, and not gas. But all the same, she snorted out a laugh before pulling Ty towards the store.

They gave Ray her space, but walked up to a case of necklaces and a sharply dressed woman with long red painted nails came up to them. "Anything catch your eye?"

Arlan stammered for a moment as Tyris placed his hand on her lower back, "Can we see that one?" Tyris asked as he stepped up closer to his fellow trooper.

The saleswoman smiled and gave the strikingly handsome man a knowing smile and pulled out the delicate gold chain.

As the necklace was draped over Tyris' large and calloused fingers, he inspected it for a moment before looking up at the woman behind the case, "May I?" When she nodded, Tyris turned back to Arlan and asked a wordless question by raising his brows she lifted her arms and pulled her pale purple hair away from her neck and shoulders.

The gold chain didn't have a traditional clasp closer, but had two hand hammered rings, one just large enough for the three carat amethyst teardrop pendant to slip through. Arlan shivered, not only at the cool stone that hung low and rested upon her breast bone, but also Ty's warmth as his hands ghosted against the curves of her neck.

"Beautiful," Tyris spoke lowly, his dark eyes burning. He had never been this forward with his admiration towards Arlan but after seeing his Emperor find happiness with Rey, and Davin with Irris, and even Cale with his Knighthood, he thought perhaps it was time that he took a shot at something wonderful as well.

Just a year ago, when he was still just one of many, randomized letters and numbers were all he was known as, a nobody in white armor, just as replaceable as the trooper standing to his left and right. But now, he had a name, a position, friends… _family_ , and in this moment Tyris felt like he was on the brink of something special, that he could have what he always dreamed of, but never thought was possible.

All of his hopes bore into Arlan with his unwavering gaze and he watched her small but strong fingers toyed with the brilliant pale purple stone. "We'll take it," Tyris said without taking his eyes off Arlan.

"Ty," Arlan tried to protest. "It's too much."

"You made me promise to buy you something…"

"It's still too much," Arlan unwrapped the thin gold chair from around her neck and looked at it longingly.

Tyris took the necklace from Arlan's fingers and handed it back to the saleswoman, "Nothing will ever be too much for you," he smiled down at the lovely woman standing so close that he could smell light floral notes of the perfume she only wore on their times off. "Can you please box this up for us?" He asked the woman behind the counter.

Arlan blushed, "Careful Ty…you are starting to sound as lovesick as Ben." Normally she would never call the Emperor by his birth name, knowing that Rey was the only one afforded that privilege, but she also didn't want to draw attention to who was truly in their company.

"Perhaps I am," was Tyris' answer to her teasing claim, somehow finding the confidence that his Emperor seemed to have when addressing the Empress.

Not fully understanding her feelings, Arlan was lost. She liked Tyris, trusted him, felt safe and happy around him, but as she had disclosed to Rey earlier, Arlan didn't know what love was, how to identify the feelings that were churning within her. She felt warm but her skin was overcome with goose flesh, she felt airy but grounded, and the most foreign feeling was her impulsive urge to throw her arms around Ty's neck and kiss him.

Rey was walking up just as she saw Tyris hand a credit card over the the saleswoman. "Did Ty find something he likes?" Rey asked Arlan.

"I think he did," Arlan answered with more meaning than she understood and gave her friend a small smile.

Tyris offered to carry the small black bag in Rey's hand, having an identical one tucked behind his back, but Rey declined his offer, not wanting to let Ben's gift out of sight. The speeder ride back to the apartment was short and uneventful. It was late afternoon and Rey still wasn't expecting Ben back a for a few hours.

"Ty," she called from the kitchen as the guards were making their way out of the apartment and back down to their quarter on the lower level.

"Yes, Rey?"

"Can you do me a favor?"

"Anything Empress," Tyris said with some apprehension, after the past few encounters he wasn't sure what to expect from Rey. He didn't want to upset Ren the way Arlan had after conspiring with Rey to surprise the Emperor, but he also didn't want to displease Rey as he saw what she did to Cale while they were on Naboo.

Rey bit her lip, "Can you help me make dinner for Ben?"

Tyris was relieved and proud at the same time. He had once offered to teach the Empress how to properly cook in her own home and it was a task that he would happily comply with. So with a smile, he nodded and they set about going through what was already stocked in the apartment since there wouldn't be enough time to send out for groceries.

He showed her how to safely hold a knife. "You may know how to cut people in half with your saber, but in the kitchen one false move and you could lose a finger."

Rey watched with intense interest as the chef's knife moved as if it was an extension of Tyris' own hand and she thought back to Ben running through saber forms with her, gripping her hips and whispering into her ear, ' _Keep your core tight. You and your sabers should move as one_.' She mimicked the troopers movements, curling her fingers as the cool steel grazed across her knuckles, the small piles of herbs and aromatics were mounting on their matching cutting boards.

With a few pecks at Rey's datapad, Arlan joined them, brining up a bottle of wine from the Emperor's cellar and then got busy with setting two places at the table just off the kitchen. The pale haired trooper then took up a seat on the other side of the counter and watched Tyris being patient and kind to their Empress. All the while Arlan played with the amethyst pendant that hung against her chest.

After Rey placed the rib roast that was smothered in herb butter and surrounded with vegetables into the oven she wiped her hands on a dish towel and had a satisfying grin on her face.

"Let it cook for about an hour and a half," Tyris instructed. "The roast and the vegetables should be done at the same time. Let the meat rest before you cut it and everything should be perfect."

"Thank you," Rey rolled up on her toes and planted a quick kiss to Tyris' cheek causing the trooper to go red.

Arlan snickered and walked up to the Empress. "Should I be worried about this thing between you and Ty," she said playfully.

Rey balked, her eyes going wide, "Very funny, but please don't ever joke like that in front of Ben."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Arlan replied and was pleasantly surprised when Rey pulled her into a friendly hug. When they parted, Arlan wore a soft smile, "Enjoy your night with the Emperor…back to the real world tomorrow."

It appeared that even the troopers were becoming sympathetic towards the strife that the double life of their Empress was bestowing upon their little group. Arlan would never mention Ren's mood changes each time Rey left him, never confess that she could tell when the Force denied or afforded her Master access to Rey across the galaxy. As much as she kept hearing Ren say that it was Rey's decision, she also couldn't ignore the hours of training and almost self abuse Kylo put himself through each time Rey refused to stay.

For now, as Arlan took her leave, she could just hope that since her Emperor and Empress were engaged to wed and Rey had made a vow to bring a conclusion to her efforts for peace from the side of the Resistance, that perhaps some time soon she could see the unequivocal, pure, and earnest power of the Force as it works through Rey and Ren to unify the galaxy.

When the apartment was quiet and Rey saw the low and golden sun of Coruscant sinking low and casting long and warm beams of light through the walls of windows, she set a timer and then padded to their quarters. She had enough time for a relaxing soak in the tub with more of the oils that made her skin soft and smell like her garden on Naboo.

 _Her garden_ …Rey mused as she sank up to her chin in the borderline scalding water. She allowed her mind to wander, to dream, to desire. The grass was warm under her bare feet, the sun beamed down on her shoulders, and her heart was so full of joy that she could hardly stand it. Her legs worked harder as she crested a low laying hill and a laugh so light-hearted escaped her.

Among the wild flowers sat Rose as she supervised two toddling children as they showed off their newly acquired skill of walking and shrieking at the top of their lungs with sheer delight. Rey sat next to her friend just in time to see the pale skinned boy with dark curly hair and ears that stood out from his head trip over his own feet and topple to the ground. The girl, perhaps half a year older than the boy had her hair tied into buns at either side of her head and wobbled to the boy's side, helping him stand back up, petting his head, and saying in a soft voice for him to ' _no cry_ '.

Rey came to with tears running down her face and into the cooling bath water. She prayed for her dream to be a solid vision of the future and not just some empty promise that her mind created in an attempt to placate her anxiety towards her pending decisions. Beyond making more _Forceful_ pushes towards peace with Poe and the other leadership, Rey made it her new mission to also convince Rose and Finn to come with her, start a new life away from any dwindling influence of the New Republic refugees, to make her vision a reality.

Resolute, Rey stepped out of the bath and with a towel wrapped around her flush body, she sat at her vanity, pulled her hair out of the knot at the top of her head, and ran Leia's silver-plated brush through her chestnut strands. With unhurried curiosity, she looked through some potted creams and bottled oils that no doubt Arlan had procured from her. Settling on a light weight oil that smelled like roses, it made her skin look supple with a radiant glow.

Next she ventured to her closet, almost wishing that she had asked Arlan to help pick out a dress before the trooper retired to her quarters a floor below. She fingered the garments, thinking that she didn't want anything too constricting or complicated. She wanted something alluring but demure, to give Ben a taste of what it would be like to truly come home to her.

Hands moving of their own accord, Rey pulled out a slip dress the same brilliant silver as Ben's first saber. The material was silk but the weave was slightly irregular, giving it an interesting texture. Unknowing if this dress was meant to function as undergarments, Rey couldn't find the energy to care. The thin straps connected to points of fabric that draped loosely over her breasts, her nipple already reacting to the coolness of the silk. The hem was cut on the bias, starting at mid thigh on the right and sloping down to just below her knee on the left.

Pulling open the opposite closet door, she appraised how the dress fell against her form in a full-length mirror. It showed just enough skin, giving just enough promise of what lays underneath. Padding back across the apartment, Rey checked the timer, forty-five minutes to go.

She set Ben's gift on the counter so that she could give it to him over dinner. Then she ventured into his office, running her hands along the old bound volumes of his collection and decided to bring the Jedi texts on her next visit, thinking that it was high time they started to collect items to teach the next generation of Force sensitive beings…and at the forefront of her mind, their children who would need sound guidance to understand the unfathomable power the Force would bestow upon them.

The timer went off in the kitchen and just as Tyris had instructed, Rey pulled out the roast and set it to rest. She started to become excited about Ben's return. The chrono on the wall read that it was 1826 and she expected to hear the ion thrusters of the shuttle coming to rest on the upper deck any minute now.

But time ticked on. The roast became cold. Rey opened the bottle of wine and poured herself a generous glass. She drank sitting at the table, looking at the clean and unused place settings. She filled her glass and walked onto the terrace, looking out over the now darkened city, she imagined all the other families out there who were sitting down for a meal, all the husbands that kept their promises to their wives, all the people who didn't have to worry if their loved ones would come home injured, or come home at all.

For a long time, she sat in the oversized seat on the terrace where she had curled up in Ben's warm arms many times before. She felt so cold, the dress providing no comfort but the deep and rich wine helped Rey to not care about the gooseflesh that pebbled her exposed skin.

When her glass was once again empty, Rey ventured back into the apartment and poured the rest of the bottle into her glass. Grabbing the small black box off the counter, it hung limply in her hand as she swayed across the living room and into the bedroom. She walked to her side of the bed and tossed the box down on her bedside table.

Turning to observe the quiet room, her chest felt hollow as she was surrounded by his scent. It was as if he was just there with her, just beyond her sight, just out of her reach. Crossing the room, she pushed at the door that was hidden within the panels of the walls. Just like the first time she had crossed into this room, the lights came up to a dim glow and she sat down in the rocker, letting her gaze roam over the mural with the two suns.

Rey pulled her knees up to her chest, sipped at her wine, and rocked the chair with the use of the Force. She wondered if her mother had ever rocked her, ever whispered soothing words of affection, ever hummed a lullaby into her baby fine hair. But each time she thought about her parents she just remembered being left on Jakku. She remembered their empty promise to return, to be a family once more. She remembered each and ever tick mark that she scratched into the corroding wall of the fallen AT-AT Walker.

Curling in on herself like she had learned through a lifetime of abuse, Rey tried to protect her core, the tender bits within her chest, her heart. She was not only worried about Ben's safety, thinking about their talk in the catacombs on Naboo and as her chest felt empty and hollow, she wasn't sure if she could live without him. But she also wanted to hate him for making her feel this way. He left in the middle of the night, going off-world with his Knights to do Maker knows what, and hours after he was to be home, Rey sat alone, unsure, racked with sorrow and anxiety.

She was once again the small girl who was left behind, given broken promises and left to wait.

Tired of crying and tired of lamenting in a room that in her inebriated mind felt like another broken promise that was being dangled before her, Rey walked back into the bedroom. Moving to her side of the bed, Rey brashly pushed Ben's gift back on her nightstand to make room for her almost empty wine glass before she aimlessly flopped down on the bed, again pulling her knees to her chest.

Two more gulps of wine and there was only a thin rim of deep maroon liquid at the bottom of the glass. As she twisted the stem of the glassware between her fingers absentmindedly, she heard the door to the apartment open, shut, and then heavy boot falls moved towards their quarters.

Rey wasn't scared, knowing his lumbering gait just by sound but she relaxed her posture, now sitting cross-legged on the bed.

He entered the room in full regalia. Truthfully he was so anxious to see Rey that he didn't even give a second thought to his appearance. He could feel her through the Force, her signature fuzzy with a mix of emotions.

"You're late, Kylo."

Ben could only see the faint online of her figure as she sat in their dimmed room, made darker by the tinted visor of his helmet. Her tight and accusing tone, let alone the fact that she called him _Kylo_ felt like more of a beating than he had just received on the battlefield. With quick movements, he clicked the release and his mask was discarded to the floor with an echoing clatter. "Rey…" he said in a breathless whisper.

Rey rocked up on her knees, hefting the empty glass across the room before she could think better of it. Unlike how he had smoothly dodged the saber on the _Supremacy_ or the measuring cup in the kitchen weeks ago, Ben barely had time to duck his torso away from the incoming object, only made known to him as the city lights gleamed off the rounded glass.

There was a shattering sound behind him as the glass made contact with the wall, shards scattered around his boots. Surprise, concern, confusion, and fear surrounded him and he tried to triage his feelings and assess Rey's state. He tried again, holding out his gloved hand in a reassuring gesture, "Rey…"

Reaching next to her, Rey grabbed the gift box and sent it on the same trajectory as the wine glass, "You're late!"

This time Ben was ready, calling the object to his hand with help from the Force, but he couldn't care about the square box, tossing it gently onto a tufted chair by the window, his focus was completely on Rey. "I know…I'm…"

Rey was now off the bed coming towards him all balled fists and eyes afire, and Ben reached out with the Force, holding her in place before she could get to him. "Let me go," Rey seethed.

"The glass," Ben tried to excuse his Force hold on her, his tone soft and reassuring, and he moved to meet Rey instead, shards crunching under his boots.

When Rey was finally released and Ben stood close to her…too close for Rey's current mood, her dark and somewhat hooded gaze looked up at him. His brows were pinched together and his eyes roamed her face trying to reconcile the swirling of emotions that churned within the bond. Ben reached out his gloved hand once more, attempting to stroke the cold leather along her cheek, but Rey planted both of her palms firmly on his chest and pushed, "You left me!"

"Arlan should have…"

"I didn't know where you were or what was happening," Rey yelled up at him, her voice raw and thick with tears that were streaming down her cheeks.

"I had to take care of…"

"I waited for you!" Her voice broke and she sniffled, "I didn't know if you were coming back…"

Realization washed over Ben. His poor abandoned, wounded girl. His delay was unavoidable, it had taken them an additional six hours due to unforeseen unrest within the government of the world that they were providing aid to. But he knew to his beautifully broken bride, those hours may as well been years.

"Where were you?" Rey demanded.

"Horuz," Ben answered immediately. "The Resistance…"

Rey's gaze narrowed, "What did you do Kylo Ren?"

"What I had to," he said between clenched teeth. The last thing Ben needed was Rey questioning…judging his motives when it came to protecting their Empire.

Her hand moved before either of them could think better of it and a sharp slap sounded in the hollow room as the pads of Rey's fingers struck hard against Ben's cheek. "You promised," she seethed.

"I promised to keep you safe," his tone was low and warning, "and you will be relieved to hear that no harm came to your _friends_." Rey had struck him down in a fight for her life, she had charged at him during their spars, used the Force to disarm him, but her simple strike, that felt no worse than a sting on his rough cheek, cut him to his core. Through all of the fights between his parents, he had seen his mother slap Han more times than he could count, but his father had always shown restraint and for all of Han Solo's misgivings, he never laid a hand on his wife in anger.

In this fact, Ben respected his father, so he closed his eyes and attempted to tamper down his growing frustration. "You may call me Ben Solo, may have resolved me back to the light, and are the reason that I have found balance. I understand that Kylo Ren is the name of the monster that caused you so much pain, but I cannot go back to being the scared, self-hating, neglected boy of my past. I will always have a need for Kylo Ren." His hands clenched and then relaxed, the well-worn leather of his gloves creaked under the pressure of his balled fists as he opened his eyes again and looked down upon Rey, her gaze still alight.

"Each time you call me Ben, it gives me hope that you would have loved the man I was before my family betrayed me. But you did not fall in love with him, you fell in love with Kylo Ren. He is the one that will protect you, love you, give you a family and a home, and he is the man standing before you now."

At this moment Rey hated Ben and his way of spinning such pretty phrases. She wanted to believe him, that her friends were safe, but she still felt so hurt. She sent her pain and anguish across the bond and gaining some satisfaction from his sharp intake of breath and the tears that started to pool in his eyes.

What he sent back to her in return left her stifled. How he had wrestled with the desire to lay aside the needs of his people just to stay in bed with her for a few more hours, how he threatened his guard's lives should anything poorly happen to Rey in his absence, how he had shown mercy to those he fought against, knowing that he wouldn't dare bring his Empress any more pain by striking down one of her friends.

He showed her his benevolence, his sorrow of being away from her, that her light was what guided him and stayed his hand when needed. He had paced and raged against a rock face with his saber when he realized that he would be delayed in getting back to Coruscant, how he desired to be at her side…how he desired her.

Rey felt foolish, she had once promised him that she would never doubt their love, their bond, their commitment to each other. She bit at her lip and thought about the many times in the future that he would be called away from her, how many time she would warm their bed, waiting and wanting. Her body heated and as she let some of her strife flow back into the Force, her wine-soaked mind was now screaming for her fiancé's touch.

She blinked slowly, gazing up at him through her lashes. When she moved her hands again, it pained her to see the worried anticipation ghost across his features as if he was preparing himself for another strike.

Instead, Rey slid her index finger under the thin strap of silk that sat upon her shoulder and pulled it down her arm, the slip dress shifted to expose one of her breasts. As she moved to lower the remaining strap and she watched his expression shift to confused excitement, she taunted through a pleasing haze of lust and drink, "Well then Kylo Ren…do your worse…"

Ben's posture changed, the anxiety in his shoulders dissolved and his back and hips swayed in such a way that could only be identified as the Solo swagger that he inherited from his father. His brow quivered and then his gaze became dark. He took a step forward just as the scrap of a dress that Rey wore flitted to the floor. Reaching out his hand again, she didn't recoil, but he still cupped her throat, digging his thumb and fingers into her jaw as he tilted her face up towards his.

He dipped his head forward, almost hesitant but also let his eyes wander, studying her face. Her expression was still guarded, hurt and longing rested in her dark honey colored eyes, defiance set upon her parted lips. Instead of bringing her into a kiss, he ghosted his cheek against hers, nuzzling his nose into her temple and inhaled the floral oils that coated her skin.

With his hand still gripping her jaw, his lips finally brushed against the shell of her ear and Rey took in a gulping breath. She could smell the soot and singe of a day spent on the battlefield and while she wished to know the fates of the Resistance members that had crossed paths with Kylo Ren that day, she found in this moment she could have cared less. All she could focus on was his warm breath and the way that their racing hearts seemed to fall into sync.

Finally, as his large form seemed to envelop all of her senses, Ben thick and raw voice whispered into her hair, "I'm going to take exactly what I want…"

* * *

 **AN: I'm sure most of you can guess where the next chapter is headed and I'm super excited to write it. I'm not above begging for some love, so drop me a line and make my heart happy.**

 **Also, I have gone back and edited Parts 1-28. Bless you all for putting up with some of my errors and not raking me over the coals for them.**


	32. Part XXXII

**Part XXXII**

Those words, once meant with cruelty so long ago that Rey could hardly remember that time…now they still sent a chill down her spine but they also set a warmth deep in her core. Coming away from her ear, his nose grazed back over her temple and down her cheek bone as his full but dry lips skipped along her jaw line. Only once she felt his warm and tangy breath ghost across her lips did Rey speak, "What do you want?"

Ben's thick lashes flicked open and his dark eyes met hers, "For you to believe that I will never leave you…that I will always come back for you."

Rey whimpered but when his lips crashed to hers, she was set ablaze with an animalistic need for Ben…for Kylo, to feel connected and in control of something…anything that would ground her into this moment and to the fact that he was actually here.

It appeared that Ben had the same dominating need as he dug his fingers deeper into her jaw and throat as she bit at his already split lip. Rey tasted the sharpness of copper and swiped her tongue slowly over his bottom lip before their gaze met again.

This is what they did. They hurt each other just to turn and provide comfort. Their love was unequivocal, bonded and absolute in the Force, but they had both been so damaged by the follies of their upbringings that the corruption of doubt always lurked in the depths of their minds. That doubt, rooted in darkness, would be a vicious and constant barrier that they would continue to struggle to overcome for the rest of their days.

But in this coming together, they would find relief in the brutal torment that gave them both strength within the Darkside. They would lay claim to one another, pulling from feelings of possession, angst, uncertainty, and suffering. Both sought acceptance, serenity, reassurance, and balance through the clawing of fingers and gnashing of teeth.

With Rey already nude, Ben yearned to feel her warmth under his fingertips, so ripping his mouth away from her for just a moment, he pulled at the leather with his teeth, tasting burned ions on his tongue. When he released his hold on Rey's throat she staggered back a few steps, appearing unsteady and heavy on her feet but stumbled to the bed like a moth drawn to a flame.

Ben stalked after her and just before she could fall back on the plush duvet, he caught her hips and spun her around so she planted chest first over the side of their bed. Pushing down with his hand between her shoulder blades he gave her the unspoken command to stay put and he sank to his knees, kissing and nipping at her round rear as his fingers dug into her toned thighs.

Nudging her legs further apart, Ben gripped at the cleft of her rear before burying his face into her slick. Only licking and sucking at her for a moment, he sat back before quickly shoving his fore and middle fingers into her core. Not stretched and hardly ready for him, Rey clenched around his fingers. They both groaned, unsure which was the inflictor or the receiver of the punishment that racked both of their bodies.

Curling his fingers and working her into a frenzy, Ben continued his biting and sucking assault on her pale skin, leaving chapped areas that were certain to bruise across her thighs and rear. His free hand worked at the closure of his trousers and when he felt her legs start to quiver with her mounting climax, he swiftly removed his fingers giving her a long lick from her sensitive bud to the pulsing pucker between her cheeks.

Rey squeaked at the sensation of his warm mouth at her rear and she attempted to lift her head and look at him. But his large hand came back down between her shoulder blades leaving her immobilized. Then he was gone and Rey's body shivers with the lack of his touch.

He didn't make her wait long and with one snapping thrust, his hips were pushed against her supple rear. Rey bared her teeth and clawed at the covers at the borderline painful feeling of fullness. Ben smirked with satisfaction, watching her spine bow as she squeezes impossibly tight around him.

Her only salvation was the half-minute that he gave her to adjust as he lightly brushed his fingertips across her back as it heaved with each of her breaths. After that he wrapped his large hands around her rib cage, his fingertips grazing the undersides of her breasts before he used his grips as leverage for his unrelenting thrusts. Her cries could be compared to those that echoed in the throne room as Snoke ripped into her mind. The only encouragement that she gave Ben was when she shifted her hands, gripping the duvet by her shoulders in order to push back against him, forcing him to go harder and deeper.

When she threw her head back with pleasure and arched her spine, Ben moved one of his hands to gather her chestnut locks around his fist. Her scalp burned as he pulled, but this only made her push back against him harder. He moved his other hand to wrap around her shoulder, this changing the angle of his penetration and causing her breath to catch in her throat and within seconds Rey was clamping down before falling into bliss.

As she rode out her orgasm, twitching and then becoming limp on the bed, Ben shifted his hand again wrapping it around the base of her throat while pulling her back to his chest. Supporting most of her weight with his arm wrapped around her torso, his lips moved against her neck and came to rest by her ear. "You are mine," his husky voice spoke into the soft spot just behind her ear.

When she let out a mix of a moan and a whine, he tightened his hold on her, sliding his fingers up her throat to hold her jaw once more and turned her face towards his. "I will always come back to you," he raked his gaze across her face, shifting his hips into her and watching her already hooded eyes roll back in her head.

A needy groan sounded deep in her chest but he was still not satisfied, so he thrust again, "Do you understand?"

"Yes…" she cried…pleaded.

"Good girl," he cooed and stroked her cheek with his thumb before pulling their lips together and bringing his other hand up to cup her breast and pinch at her pert nipple.

Rey started to shift her hips, needing to feel him move within her but instead, he pulled away from her, slipping away from her lips and her heat. But he only gripped her hips, turning her over and pushing her further up the bed so that he could crawl over her. Rey let her legs fall apart without having to be asked and Ben settled between her thighs, easily plunging back into her with the moisture from her first release.

Now that they were chest to chest, face to face, Ben's moments were slower, coaxing out her pleasure instead of demanding it. Their lips moved together lazily and he was helpless to keep his fingers from carding through her soft hair and cradling her head in his large hands.

"I'm sorry," he cooed against her neck. Her body shuttered and her breathing caught somewhere between a gasp and a sob. "I'll never abandon you," he whispered against her lips.

Tears slid down her temples as she gripped his hair and kissed him with every ounce of love that she had within her soul. She poured her insecurities and doubts into him, allowing him to wash them away with each thrust, kiss, and touch. As she held him impossibly close she felt it again…the balance and he fell with her into oblivion.

They lay together for a long time, panting in each other breaths and peppering kisses against sweat and tear-stained faces. His weight pushed her into the mattress and Rey had never felt so safe in her entire life. She felt as if a bomb could go off around them and their moment would not be shattered and she spoke her own apology against his lips.

When his length soften, he slid from within her and gathered her in his arm. In the shower he washed her love bitten and bruised skin as if it was made of the finest porcelain, kissing over each mark he had left on her body. It was only at this point that Rey saw the injuries that marred his pale skin. She didn't want to ruin the love and understanding that was swirling in the steamy enclosure and within the bond, so she just stroked his cheek and kissed each blaster burn across his shoulders and torso.

Not bothering to dress, they curled around each other in their bed, Rey drawing shapes along his chest with her cool fingertips while he twirled strands of her hair around his fingers and fluttered kisses upon the crown of her head. Neither slept, neither spoke, but the bond was wide open and they were able to express what was beyond any known verbal language.

The sun rose before either of them wanted and Ben wondered with their powers combined if they could reverse the spin of the planet to just have a few extra hours with each other. But as the light started to cross the floor of the room, Rey untangled herself from her fiancé and padded off to the fresher.

Ben sighed, sitting up in bed and pushing his hair out of his eyes. He was exhausted but there would be time to sleep later, for now, he wanted to spend as much time with Rey as he could. Calling his datapad to his hand, he ordered a cleaning droid to come and vacuum up the glass that was now sparkling across the floor in the morning sun.

Getting out of the bed he moved to his closet and pulled on a pair of gray lounge pants just as Rey was coming out of the fresher. He kissed her lips when she turned her face up towards his and he whispered a promise of caf which made her smile.

His heart dropped when he walked into the kitchen. Two place setting were untouched at the table and a delicious looking rib roast sat on the counter next to the oven. Rey had cooked him dinner, had sat waiting for him to return home, and he loathed himself for hurting her so.

When she walked into the kitchen Ben was standing by the caf machine and the aroma had already carried in the apartment but she was halted by the agonized look on his face as his gaze slid from her to the remnants of their dinner. Rey attempted to smile but only achieved a tight upturn of her lips as she walked to the pan that held the roast, picked it up and then tipped it into the bin.

"I didn't know," Ben offered.

"So maybe I will be able to surprise you one day…"

He moved to her, cupping her face between his palms and finally she did smile while nuzzling into his warmth. "I'm sorry I disappointed you."

Rey met his gaze and wondered how many times he said those sullen words to his parents when he was a boy. She had seen over the bond how many times Leia had pleaded with him to just be good, or considerate, or _normal_. Han would shake his head in a detached manner, never knowing what to do with his son, never trying to understand the Force and the swirl of conflicting feelings that were eating away at his boy.

So Rey turned her face and kissed his palm, "I wasn't disappointed. I was just scared."

He nodded, not wanting to fight or continue down a path that would leave them both upset or in tears. So like many mornings with the Empress in residence, he took two cups of caf out to the terrace and they sat together in an oversized chair and watched the city come to life.

Before long the front door comm was sounded and Arlan was welcomed into the apartment to help Rey pack. Within half an hour Rey was donning her gray cloak and being ushered up to the landing platform.

"Master!" Cale called out as he jogged across the tarmac. "Empress," he bowed and addressed as he came to stand before them. "The counsel is gathering down stairs."

Ben bit at his lip and looked between Rey and his newest Knight.

"It's okay," Rey reassured, reaching up to ease his pinched brows. "Go rule our Empire."

Still not knowing why the Force had smiled so favorably down upon him by delivering Rey into his life, Ben grabbed the sides of her cloak's hood and dipped his face within its shadow. He kissed her fiercely, drawing out her breath and counsel be damned was ready to drag her back to bed.

Instead, he rested his forehead against hers. "I love you," his words echoed just for her within their woolen cocoon.

"I love you," she answered in kind, bushing her nose against his on her way to his lips.

When they parted Ben ran the pad of his thumb over her bottom lip and smiled down at just how beautiful his bride was. Extracting himself from her hood, Ben saw that Tyris and Davin were standing by the ramp of the Mk3 and he couldn't think of anyone else that he would trust Rey's life with.

Arlan stepped up and took Rey's hand, leading her to the shuttle as her Empress kept her head dipped towards the ground. Half way up the ramp Rey turned, floating her love and longing through the bond and in return she received an adorable Solo smirk and head tilt as if he was daring her to say to hell with the Resistance and _stay_.

Rey insisted on flying with Arlan taking up the co-pilot's seat. The flight back to Orinda was uneventful and Tyris and Davin sat silently in the jump seats at the rear of the cockpit. After hearing from Cale about the late hour that the Knights had returned from their mission, Arlan didn't dare bring up Rey's prior night. It had appeared that the Emperor and Empress had parted on favorable terms and their relationship was none of her business unless Rey chose to bring it up. She also wouldn't dare speak about what had transpired between herself and Ty once they had left Rey…especially not with Tyris sitting just ten feet behind them.

So in a few comfortable hours of silence, they arrived back on Orinda and Rey hugged her guards who were starting to seem more like family. Just like ever other time she had to meet up with Ben, her shuttle was stocked with everything on her list and with a toothy smile and a full arm wave, Rey boarded her transport and watched the black Command Shuttle disappear below her.

Back on Coruscant Ben had just finished the meeting with the War Counsels about his desire to start downsizing the military. Hux, who was back on limited duty was less than pleased and made his grievances well known his in snide and nasally tone.

Removing his surcoat and throwing it on the chair in the sleeping quarters he noticed the small black box that he had thrown into the pale gray chair the night before. The glass that had once littered the floor was gone and their well-used bed was made. If not for the closet full of her clothes and the box in his hand there was no evidence that he had spent the night with the love of his existence.

Rey had thrown this box at him last night and he turned it over in his hands, no external marking gave away its contents. So he used his thumb to lift a flap closure and when he turned the box over, a cylindrical container fell into his palm.

This lid was hinged and he ran his fingertips over what lay inside. Lifting out the object he studied it. A completely matte black chronometer with a soft black leather band. The only details on the face of the timepiece were the two black hands that currently were pointed at 1147. Running the pad of his thumb over the smooth glass front, his fingers that were pressed into the back of the chrono felt something rough.

Working the band through its closure, he turned the piece over and etched into the back plate were eight simple words and a series of coordinates.

 _In the Darkness night,_

 _Shines the brightest Star._

 _-9774.08 , -5568.55_

He ran his fingers over the words and numbers and smiled at his lovely and clever girl.

* * *

Shifting through two hyperspace lanes, Rey was finally approaching Dantooine again. She wondered to herself how many more times would she be making this flight? How much longer before she called the penthouse on Coruscant or the manor on Naboo her home?

She landed on the tarmac and was taxied into the hangar, droids and sensual being alike swarmed her craft ready to unload the goods that she had acquired on her 'supply run'. Looking off to the far side of the hangar she saw some X-wings that looked worse for wear and wondered if that was the squadron that Ben had encountered.

Not thinking any better, she handed her ledger to the on-duty Chief and quickly took her bag to her quarters before seeking out Poe. While she had gained a pretty fair account of mission from Ben's memory, she wondered how far off base Poe's diluted rationalizations would be. Like many times before, Rey reined in her emotions and expression as she knocked on the General's door.

Against Ben's wishes, Rey had continued to meet with Poe in his private quarters. He had made no other inappropriate actions towards her and she felt over the past few weeks that they had been able to have a more meaningful conversation even if they didn't completely agree on every point.

When Poe answers the door his eyes were full of worry, dark circles set just above his cheeks as if he had not slept in days, and his hair stood on end from endless pulling with ongoing frustration. "Rey," he breathed almost in relief. "Come in," he said while grabbing her wrist and pulling her into his room.

"What's going on Poe?" She started off with concern, but truly this was not the cocky man that she had left just days prior. "I saw the X-wings in the hangar. It looks like they took quite a beating."

"We all did," Poe said pulling at his hair again and pacing over to the single chair in his small sitting area.

Rey took up her usual spot on the loveseat to Poe's left and waited for him to start explaining. She washed the area in just enough calming energy to get him to stop fretting and start talking. So she tried to prod him along, "I didn't think we had a mission scheduled."

" _We_ didn't," Poe confirmed and he watched Rey become confused with his insinuation. "I didn't order a mission. I would have never…"

"Then what happened?" Flashes of the battle through Ben's memory filtered through Rey's mind as she tired to piece it all together.

"The Resistance had always operated outside of the Senate and we even opened our base and resources up to those who were displaced from their would during the upheaval, but with this betrayal, they have shown that they have no intention in giving up any of their power."

"The New Republic Senators ordered the mission?" Rey tried to think about how this was even possible.

"They must have worked to gain sympathizers and obtained their own intelligence and constructed this harebrained operation. But one thing they did not account for was that Kylo Ren and his Knights would show up…"

Rey needed know, "What happened? Where did they strike? How many were lost?"

Poe sank back in his chair ready to retell the debriefing that he had just received hours ago. "The world of Mairne has a long history with the Sabiador Slavers and when Ren abolished slavery of any kind, the Sabiadors were not too keen on giving up their strong hold in the Kathol sector or the highly sought after ore of Mairne.

"So the New Order had sent a shipment of ships and weaponry to Mairne so that they could protect their own people. The Senators got wind of this and thought that they could take the cache for themselves to…I don't know…take over the planet, bring back here and assume power over the Resistance…I'm not sure what their end game was."

"Why haven't these Senators been taking and interrogated?" She sat forward before offering, "I can take a run at them."

"That won't be necessary," Poe said calmly. "They are all dead…"

"What?" Rey asked in shock.

"This is why I don't think that they had any intention to return to the Resistance and were planning to start their own rebellion," Poe sighed. "They took a transport, twelve of them in total and went with the X-wings and other ground fighters to infiltrate the capital."

"What's our casualty numbers?"

"Twenty-two, but from the debriefs, Ren and his Knights only went after the Senators. The rest were either shot down or killed by Mairne defenses."

Rey was taken back by this and she remembered Ben saying the night before that her friends were not harmed. She couldn't pretend to mourn for the Senators, they had made their own beds in this mess, but the ten other fighters had been led to the slaughter. "Finn…Rose…?" Rey asked and her chest hurt at the thought that she was doubting Ben's promise.

"They were both here and are actually very worried about you."

"I was on the other side of the galaxy on Metalorn," she lied.

"Yes, but with the newest attack, we are certain that the New Order will have more troops stationed around the galaxy and last we checked there is still a bounty out on you."

Rey just gave a tight-lipped smile and hoped in the upcoming weeks that the bounty order would soon be changed to a coronation announcement.

Poe looked at Rey and when her gaze came up to meet his, the General's expression crumpled, "I'm so sorry…"

Rey shifted in her seat, trying to inch closer to her friend who seemed to be on the cusp of redemption. Reaching out her hand, she placed it on his knee and his warm hand came down to cover her slim fingers.

"I did what you asked. I ventured out into the galaxy, visited worlds, talked to fighters who were returning home, spoke with liberated troopers." He took in a shaky breath, not believing that his next words would ever cross his lips. "Leia would have been proud of what her son is doing with the New Order."

Sucking in a breath, tears welled in Rey's eyes and her chest felt alight. A soft smile crossed her lips, "Is Poe Dameron ready to talk peace?"

He puffed out a long exhale, "Ten people died today over the greed of power and it has to stop. I see that now…"

Rey could have launched herself at the man that she once again considered a friend, wanting to hug his neck and shake him and tell him that ' _it's about damn time_ ', but instead she gave him a brilliant smile. "I'm so pleased to hear this Poe…I'm sure the Emperor will hear your conditions."

"I don't think it will be that easy," he said with a nervous laugh.

"I could go to him again…"

"No," Poe said with authority.

Turing her hand over, Rey squeezed his palm, "He won't hurt me. I went to him before and he killed his Master to avoid striking me down."

"You can't be sure. The bounty…"

"Says to bring me in alive and unharmed. If he wanted me dead, he would have come to deliver the final stroke himself…long ago."

Poe sighed, "Finn will never agree to this…"

"Then we are lucky that he has no say over what I do," she gave Poe a reassuring smile. "We will give it some time…we need to mend our ships and regain some confidence within the ranks."

He nodded and squeezed her hand back and watched her stand from her seat. Not being ready to let her go, Poe trailed behind Rey to the door and when she stepped out into the hall, their hands still joined and stretched out between them, he pulled her into his space, wrapping his arms around her back and hugging tightly.

Rey returned the hug, her arms easily folding over his shoulders, their heights only differed by a few inches. It felt weird for her to be embracing someone and not have her face buried into the warm chest of Ben. She felt Poe lean his forehead against her shoulder and he turned his face just slightly to whisper, "Thank you for not giving up on me," into her ear.

Pulling away she gave him a caring smile and then started down the hall, their fingers falling apart when she was no longer within reach. A smile was stuck on her face and her hands swung happily as she walked down the hall, everything was falling into place. All of her sacrifices were going to be worth the peace that she was able to foster within the Resistance.

Maybe twenty-five paces down the hall Rose leaned up against the durasteel wall and lit up when she saw Rey but also appraised her friend's mood.

"Rose!" Rey said with utter joy and the two friends hugged. Just like she had done with Irris and Arlan, Rey linked her arm with Rose and they walked down a few corridors until they were in Rey's quarters.

"Did you hear about the Senators?" Rose asked as she sat down on Rey's cot.

"Yeah," Rey answered as she unfastened and slid out of her high collared vest. "Poe was just telling me what happened."

Rose giggled into her hand, "I'm sure that is _exactly_ what you and Poe were doing…"

Rey turned to her friend with confusion and Rose pointed to her own neck while raising her eyebrows with a knowing smirk. Still not getting it, Rey rushed to her fresher and looked at her neck in the mirror. " _Kriff_ ," she cursed to herself, but it was too late, Rose was now leaning up against the door way into the fresher and watching Rey inspect the love bites that littered her neck.

"It's not what you think," Rey tried to stop the wheels that were turning behind her friend's bright eyes and telling smile.

Rose held up her hands, "I'm not here to judge…it's just we all thought that Poe had something going on with Kaydel."

Rey groaned knowing that she wasn't going to be able to talk her way out of this and without being able to relay the real culprit, she would have to lie about any sort of romantic relationship between herself and the General.

Reaching up, Rey quickly healed the most noticeable bruises but if her hazy memory was an accurate depiction of what Ben did to her the prior night, she would have marks along her thighs, bottom, hips, and breasts, but there was no way she was going to disclose any of this Rose.

"So how long has this been going on?" Rose asked only slightly surprised when Rey used her Force powers to make the angry red marks disappear.

Rey faltered and turned to her friend, "If I tell you, will you let it go and not tell anyone about it?"

Rose nodded happily.

"Not even Finn…" Rey warned.

Making a gesture as if she was pulling a zipper across her lips and throwing away the key, Rose eagerly awaited the juicy details.

They walked back over to Rey's cot and sat down. "It started just before the wedding," she lied through her teeth. "I don't know about him and Kaydel, but we were spending so much time together and it just happened…"

Rose bounced and clapped her hands. "So have you guys _done it_?" She wiggled her eyebrows with the question.

"Rose!" Rey said in mock horror.

The small dark haired woman just shrugged, "At least you won't have to take care of yourself as much anymore that you found a man to… _service_ your needs."

Rey blushed seventeen shades of red and balked. "Okay! That's enough talk about my love life. How about you give me a second to change out of these travel clothes and we will go down to the mess and get an early dinner."

Giggling again, Rose stood up and nodded, relaying that she was going to run by her quarters and see if Finn wanted to join them. Rey pointed a finger at her friend, "Remember, not a word to anyone about me and Poe…"

Rose winked and then was out of the door.

Sighing and crumpling back on to her bed, Rey threw her arms over her face and thought about how screwed she was, not only for lying about a fictions relationship with Poe to hide the fact that her fiancé had ravished her not twenty-four hours ago but concealing said fiancé from her best friend has caused an ache to bloom within her chest.

Finally gathering herself, Rey sat up to get changed and let out a surprised yelp.

"So you and Dameron?" Ben said from across her small quarters with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Kriff," Rey breathed.

* * *

 **AN: Oh it feels good to be back...kinda. I'm working and on call for Christmas so I will see how much writing I get done this week but I hope to have another chapter out before the New Year. I had no idea that I would be going into 2019 writing Reylo stories but here we are.**

 **You are all so amazing and your comments mean the world to me. Bad shit keeps happening but your words make me smile like an idiot and I want to thank all of you for that.**

 **ALSO! We are almost to 10,000 hits! You all are so freaking amazing!**


	33. Part XXXIII

**Part XXXIII**

Ben stays stoic and stone-faced as he watches Rey jump from her cot and start to babble incoherently but he interrupts her, "You said something about getting undressed." His deep voice left very little room for argument.

When Rey went to further explain, her voice drifted off with just the slightest lift of his brow, tempting her to question him. So with shuttering breaths, she stripped. Ben's gaze softened slightly at the now purpling bruises that littered her creamy skin, not that she saw the shift in his resolve as she bent over to removed her boots and pants.

As she stood back up completely bare, he walked around her as if looking for any evidence that another man had touched any part of her. By the time he came back around to stand in front of her, Rey was almost in tears. "Kneel," he commanded.

Rey did as she was told, dropping down to the cold duracrete floor of her quarters. Her face was level with his crotch and when his gaze flicked from her worried eyes to his covered but already hard cock, Rey reached up with trembling fingers to work at the closures and free his smooth shaft from the dark confines of his pants.

"Ben it's not true…" Rey whimpered. "Rose saw my hickeys and assu…"

But her speech was cut off when Ben gripped his cock around the base and pushes his already leaking head between her lips. She sputtered at first but then worked her tongue along the bottom of his shaft as she took him into the back of her throat.

Pushing the hair back away from her face, he placed the pad of his thumb into the divot in her cheek as she hollowed her face with the relentless sucking. "I know," he admitted with a smirk.

Pausing on her upward stroke, Rey's eyes went large before narrowing up at him. Her lips curled back and using her teeth, she put pressure around his cock and Ben immediately held up his hands and started to nervously laugh. "I'm sorry sweetheart. It was too perfect a setup…"

Retracting her teeth and coming off him with pop, Rey stood up, brushing dirt from her bare knees, "What the hell Ben?"

Before she could fire off any other curses or insults, Ben had picked her up, still loving the way she always squeaked at his show of strength and he moved forward until her back hit the wall of her quarters. He covered her lips with his and gripped at her rear as he blindly stabbed at her core with his still wet cock.

When he found home they both groaned at the sensation of completeness and he then breathed a sigh of relief as if being buried within her was his only salvation. "I thought I told you last night that you are mine," He hissed into his thrusts.

"Yes, yours…" Rey panted as she hiked her leg up over his hip to change the angle of her pelvis and allow him to hit deeper within her heat.

She pulled at his hair and pecked sloppy kisses against his lips that were pulled back over gritted teeth. "You are going to be my wife. _Mine_ ," he emphasized his words with snaps of his hips.

Rey's answer was a pleading cry for release so with each trust he would also pull her into him as he hands and forearms were cradling her rear. "I was your first and will be your only."

"My only," Rey nodded, her expression somewhere between pleasure and pain. "Only for you," came out in a deeper tone as she felt the pooling her her core start to heat.

"Touch yourself," he commanded as the coil in his gut stated to tighten. "I want you to make yourself cum."

Snaking her lithe hand between their bodies she rested the back of her head against the cool steel wall as her fingers made intentional circles around her clit.

"So beautiful," Ben's voice was ragged as he watched her hazel eyes roll with their combined assault. "Want to feel you leak down my cock," he spoke into her neck as the wet smacking sounds of the love making echoed in the small room. "Want to put my seed so deep in you."

He grunted as he felt the first flutter of her cresting orgasm and he continued to slam home until she was biting into the curve of his shoulder, screaming into his still blaster marred skin as he balls tensed and then he was pulsing his spend as deep as physically possible.

"Fuck," Rey whispered as she tried to catch her breath. "Where did that come from?"

Ben chuckled with his own panting breath and kissed along her shoulder, "I saw some of your…dreams through the bond last night." Rey's skin heated even more than it already was and she balked. "I aim to please," Ben said as he kissed her nose and then her parted with shock, lips.

Just then, there was a knock at her door and Rey let her head lull back again groaning, "I was supposed to meet Rose and Finn in the mess hall for dinner."

Humming in acknowledgment, Ben continued to lazily kiss at her neck. She moaned as she shifted her hips, he was still hard enough for her to feel a jolt of pleasure as his cock rubbed at her sensitive flesh.

The knock sounded again and Rey squeaked, "Coming!"

"Yes you did," Ben smiled into her skin.

Rey playfully slapped at his shoulder. "Put me down," she whispered.

Sighing he did as he was told and as he slid from within her a chill was sent through his body as his cock was covered in their slick. They both whimpered at the feeling of being apart, the bond was never as good as the real thing, but they had learned to manage.

As he tucked himself back into his pants, Rey cracked her door to see who was on the other side. Ben felt somewhat sorry and satisfied as he saw the indentions of the wall's rivets along her back and two red marks on her rear that were clearly handprints.

"Oh hey Finn…yeah I just got distracted…doing push-ups." Her shoulders flinched at her own horrible excuse. "Give me a second to uh…put on a shirt and I'll be right out."

She slammed the steel door shut again and gave Ben an incredulous look over her shoulder before moving around her room and dressing as quickly as she could. Rey hopped around on one foot as she slid into her left boot and then she was scampering for the door, stopping only to turn and throw her arms around Ben's neck, "Next time you want a blowjob just ask," she smirked, "instead of being an ass about it."

He would worship her for the rest of their days, Ben mused as she kissed her smile and whispered, "I'll keep that in mind," as he watched her trot from the room.

Dinner was easygoing but Rose kept shooting her friend giddy glances and Rey almost wanted to use her Jedi powers to take back the unfortunate lie. She also couldn't help squirming in her seat as she continued to feel Ben's spend soak into her panties. Embarrassingly she almost thought that she would leave a wet spot when she stood from the bench seating.

She was high off of her engagement, Ben's multiple attempts to thoroughly prove to her that their love was beyond any barrier, and Poe's thankful realization that peace was going to be made through talks and signatures, not through more dead fighters and ion cannons. Rey had so much work to do and she felt as if she was running out of time.

So during her next bond with Ben she told him that Poe was ready to talk peace. They discussed the options of a surrender versus a treaty. Ben offered to talk with some of his advisors about the prospect of finally ending the Resistance. He disclosed to Rey that he had a few new pieces of legislature that he wanted to put before the committees and pass before Poe attempted to make any demands through a treaty.

"There will still be the matter of trials for war crimes," Ben reminded her.

Rey sighed, "I know, but offenders on both sides must be brought to justice." She gave him a pointed stare, "That undoubtedly includes Hux."

Ben nodded, "I've had a judge working on the case… discreetly of course." His expression became concerning, "I need you by my side before we move against Hux and his group of First Order loyalists." Tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear his gaze softened, "I need your strength and wisdom and I have to know you are safe through what we must do."

Returning his soft gesture, Rey carded her fingers through his hair, "And what marvelous things we will do."

Their kisses were not rushed that night and the bond cut out just as Rey whispered her love into the curve of his neck.

Rey spent the next few weeks finally sitting in on the Resistance high-command meetings. She continued to meet with Poe is private as well, helping to steer him in the right directions as the rebels prepared their demands for surrender.

The desire to make a truce with the New Order was not yet common knowledge to the ranks of the Resistance. They still needed to be able to show a strong front and if they knew that peace and dismemberment of the small group were on the horizon, then the more leery fighters were sure to flee before the talks would even commence.

So between taking a position within leadership, managing the repairs on the X-wings, training new pilots, and keeping up with her saber forms, Rey found most nights when the bond opened that she was wanted to be held by Ben until they would both drift off.

On day four hundred and eighty Rey was working in her bay in the hangar when Rose came running up to her buzzing with excitement. "You need to come with me now," Rose said almost breathless.

If not for the smile across her friend's face Rey would have thought that something was horribly wrong. "What's going on?" Rey asked as she wiped her hands on a shop rag before being pulled away from her station by the small but strong dark haired woman.

Rose didn't speak again until they were shut away in the quarters that she shared with Finn. "I need you here…"

"For what?"

"To either celebrate with me or console me…depending on the results," Rose said with a hopeful expression as she turned around with a handheld medical diagnostic device in her grip.

Rey looked on with confusion, the device was mostly used to check blood sugar or enzyme levels. She watched Rose prick her finger and hold it to the device. "Are you ill?" Rey asked as she appraised Rose's appearance. Her friend seemed a little pale and despite the nervous smile on Rose's face, the dark circles under her eyes spoke of fatigue.

"Not ill…" Rose started and then squeaked when the device beeped, "I'm pregnant!"

"Pregnant?" Rey repeated and felt faint.

Her first thought was that she had to end the fighting, had to pave the way for Finn, Rose, and their child to be safe. Her mind drifted to the dream she had while bathing on Coruscant, the two children playing on a green hill under the warm sun, and she wondered if the girl with dark curly hair was the small pulse in the Force that Rey now felt in her friend.

Before she could fathom why Rey felt tears start to stream down her cheeks and to hide the mix of fear and excitement painted across her face, she pulled Rose into a tight hug. "I'm so happy for you and Finn," she was able to whisper into her friend's hair.

"Oh goodness…" Rose started to sniffle now too. "How am I going to tell Finn?"

They stood an arm's length from each other but still gripped on to the other for support, "Are you worried that he won't be pleased?" Rey thought about the nursery that Ben built into their home on Coruscant and how they both strived for a family. She pictured the moment when she would be able to tell him that they were expecting a child. His cheeks would crease, lips would part, and the rare gap-toothed smile would light up his face.

He would drop to his knees before his Empress…his wife and worship the skin between her hips, whispering love and promises into her womb. Rey almost giggled to herself thinking how she would find his overprotectiveness endearing…to a point, and how he would command Arlan to give Rey anything her heart desired.

As her thoughts drifted back to her other life, her other family that she continued to leave behind, a fresh set of tears ran down Rey's face.

"We knew that this was a possibility when I had my implant removed before the wedding but we never thought it would be this soon…" Rose mused and she thought back to the conversation in the transport at the close of their honeymoon. "I want this child to never be touched by war," she said as she protectively ran her hands over her lower abdomen.

Rey bit at her lip, thinking if she could tell Rose about the pending peace talks and since her friend had kept quiet about Rey's fictitious relationship with Poe, she figured that she could give her friend some hope. "This war will be long over before your child is born."

Rose narrowed her eyes in a confused manner and tilted her head. "What are you saying?"

"Poe is ready to sit down with Emperor Ren and sign a treaty," Rey said with a blazing smile.

"You did it!" Rose laughed. "You really did it!"

Reaching out to Rose, Rey clasped their hands together, "Your child will be happy and play on rolling green hills and be kind and she will be beautiful." Tears welled in both their eyes again, "I've seen it Rose, as clear as I'm seeing you now…"

This was perhaps the greatest gift that the Force had bestowed upon Rose, the promise of a future that surpassed the cruel life that both herself and her husband had to endure. Rose's body heated with the prospect of being able to give her child the life that was just a hope within her dreams and she was about to bring Rey into another bone-crushing hug when she faltered. "Wait," she swayed on her feet. "She? It's a girl?" Rose touched her stomach again.

Smiling with heated cheeks Rey nodded, "The Force hasn't been wrong yet."

Wanting to make a retort that it has been wrong about Kylo Ren…Ben Solo…Rose stammered with the thought that perhaps Leia's son had been redeemed, that he was pulled more towards the light, because what other reason was there for the changes within the Order and the galaxy over the past year?

The two women spent the rest of the day talking about a future that Rey knew was to come true but Rose could only hope for.

Sometimes across the bond, as the connection was becoming solid, pieces of emotions and thoughts would swirl between the two of them and later that night as they waited for the Force to be kind and allow them to drift to sleep in each other arms, Ben was bombarded with Rey's excitement.

His breathing stilled as words like ' _early days_ ', ' _baby_ ', ' _surprise_ ', and ' _daughter_ ' floated over to him. When the bond opened and he saw his beautiful fiancée standing before him with glassy eyes and a brilliant smile on her face, he wanted to crumple at her feet.

"Rey," he breathed and crossed the two paces to her, taking her face in his hands and kissing her before she could speak a word. When she was thoroughly breathless, he pressed his forehead to hers and one of his hands ghosted down her body to lay just under her bellybutton. "Tell me," he whispered. "Please."

Feeling his hope and yearning across the bond Rey's heart just about broke. She pulled her face back from his, wrapping her hand around his wrist and brought his palm up to her lips. When she looked upon his face, his eyes were still closed tight in silent prayer. "Rose is pregnant," Rey said against his fingers.

His expression crumpled and his forehead fell to her shoulder as his body shook with a quiet sob. Ben sank to his knees and buried his face into the space just under her breasts. His only comfort was Rey's arms wrapping around him, stroking his hair while placing kisses upon the crown of his head.

"I'm sorry Ben," Rey said, knowing exactly what she was apologizing for. When he looked up at her, she stroked his red face and as she laid her hand upon his cheek, Rey shared the vision that was gifted to her on Ahch-To what seemed a lifetime ago. "I will give you sons and daughters. We will have a family. Our bloodline will ensure peace for a millennia."

Ben nodded before sinking his face back into the rough fabric of her tunic. They made slow and soft love that night in her bunk and afterward, Rey talked about her plan to get Rose and Finn off Dantooine as soon as the treaty was signed. Ben again whispered promises of her friend's safety through the surrender.

"I want to bring them to Naboo," Rey mused, running her fingers through his hair as he lay on her chest with his ear pressed just above her heart.

He placed a kiss to her breast and smirked, "I happen to know the Queen and will put in a good word."

Rey snorted a laugh and pulled him by the ears back up to her lips. "Seven days…" she breathed against his pout.

"Seven days," he repeated and the bond fizzled out.

Over the next week the bonds openings were short and it left both Rey and Ben frustrated. They barely had enough time to share a lingering touch or a fleeting kiss. But each time they felt the prickle of the bond stating to close they would give the other a small smile and count down the days.

"Two days," came his deep voice and Rey jumped having not felt the bond open.

She was in her shuttle running through her preflight checks and turned to face him, "Two days," she replied with a breathtaking smile.

"No second thought?" Ben asked as his brows pinched together and his eyes pleaded for her to be kind.

"None," she said and tilted her face up with an invention for his lips to capture hers.

The bond closed before either of them wished for it too, and Rey sighed heavily before she finished checking the shuttle. At sundown, she was racing away from Dantooine and set a course for Coruscant.

To her disappointment, Ben was not in the apartment when she arrived even though his Command Shuttle was perched proudly atop the building, but she was still pleased to see Arlan and Tyris on the landing pad to welcome her home.

 _Home_ , Rey thought and her heart felt light.

"The Emperor has gone ahead of us and will meet you tomorrow for the ceremony," Arlan confirmed Rey's feelings, as the Empress could not feel Ben anywhere on the city world.

Rey was saddened but she gave a small smile anyway, "I've read it's bad luck for the bride and groom to see each other before the wedding."

Arlan just returned the Empress' smile and led her cloaked friend into the building. "Your gown was delivered yesterday along with a grooming droid. We are to take the MK3 where you can get ready in the comfort of your own quarters. Cale and two other Knights will accompany us."

"And tonight?" Rey questioned with a raised brow, thinking that Ben had perhaps planned her entire evening as well.

Loving that she had come to know her Empress so well, Arlan gave a coy smile, "You are to have your hearts desire."

Her heart only yearned for the man half way across the galaxy, but Rey agreed to the separation for propriety's sake. "Who all is in residence?" She asked looking between Arlan and Tyris.

"Cale, Jix, and Bona," Tyris listed. "Davin and Alister went with Ren yesterday."

Rey had yet to meet the Knight named Bona, but she was eager to see Jix again and formed a plan. "We shall all dine together, to toast tomorrow's union and the budding peace between the New Order and the Resistance."

Tyris nodded and went to the kitchen to start on their meal while Arlan left the apartment to go collect the Knights. Rey walked into the sleeping quarters and stood by the door for just a moment, pulling his scent from the air and her body calmed and came alive at the same time.

On the bed rested a small light purple box and a dark green bottle. Next to them was a folded piece of parchment and Rey picked up the rough paper first, remembering the many notes from Ben that were stowed away in her quarters on Dantooine.

 _Rey, my Star that lights the way Home,_

 _From the first day I saw you, I knew that I never wanted to spend another day without you. You pulled me from the depths when there was nothing but Darkness. You loved me despite my numerous sins and have shown me the path to Balance._

 _You are the Light the rose to meet my Darkness. You are the other half of my soul and I will forever be a servant to you and the Force for the precious gift that is your heart and your devotion._

 _With impatient admiration, I wait for you where we found peace within our bond, where I will become your husband and you will become my wife._

 _Unquestionably and passionately yours,_

 _Ben_

Rey wiped at the tears that streamed down her face as she smiled into her finger tips. She read the letter until the words were burned into her memory and then she held the parchment to her chest as if she could absorb the love that she felt for the man that first stole her and then stole her heart.

The small box held more chocolates from Chandrila and attached to the bottle was a small note from Irris, offering her congratulation, apologizing for not being able to be present, and hoping that the Nabooian champagne would more than make up for it.

Having some time before their dinner would be ready, Rey showered and then dressed in leggings and a tunic that were made from much softer materials than what she wore around Dantooine. Deciding to keep the chocolates for herself, Rey took the bottle of champagne to the kitchen where Tyris was just putting the finishing touches on a creamy pasta dish.

Upon her entrance, the three men sitting at the table jumped to their feet, all bowing at the waist and muttering a respectful but quiet ' _Empress_ ' in unison. Rey recognized Jix's signature within the Force, his empath talents flooded the room with a sense of security and also esteem. The third Knight in attendance, Bona, gained her curiosity.

He was young, perhaps Rey's age and she wondered how old he had been when the academy fell. She tired to imagine Ben leading a boy barely in his teens into the grips of Snoke. Through the Force she could feel the intense loyalty to Ren that Bona held, viewing his Master with a brotherly affection and allegiance. She also felt the Light within the young Knight and was pleased to think the Ben had sheltered this part of the boy from Snoke's torture.

Cale stepped forward and Rey turned her cheek so that the newest Knight could place a friendly kiss to it. "Empress," he started. As a Knight he was expected to address her formally even though he still held some familiarity from his time as a guard. He would always hold her in a more profound regard since she was the one to bestow his Knighthood upon him. "Jix you have met before, but may I present Bona, Forth Knight of Ren."

"Empress," the young Knight bowed again. He too was trying to feel her out within the Force as they gazed at each other from across the room.

Jix was the one to break the tension through the Force as he rounded the table and offered the same greeting that Cale had, "No brownies?" He asked with mock distress.

Rey laughed, "Not this time, but perhaps some champagne from Naboo will ease your disappointment."

The Knight returned her laugh, it was almost impossible for him to not bathe in the Light that the Empress cast off through the Force. He took the bottle from her offering hands and inspected the label. "It's a good start."

Tyris announced that dinner was ready and Arlan finished placing a large bowl of leafy greens and a loaf of fresh bread on the table as the male guard carried a large steaming pot across the room.

Rey took up her spot at the head of the table and Arlan sat across from her, none of the Knights daring to sit where Ren belonged. Bona blessed the food through the Force and Jix opened the bottle of champagne and passed it around the table for everyone to fill their glasses.

Once all of their plates were piled high with the delicious meal that Tyris prepared, Rey stood from her seat with her flute in her hand. "I'd like to propose a toast," she started. The other five in attendance turned their eyes towards their Empress and also took their glasses in hand.

With slightly pink cheeks from having all of their attention set on her, Rey cleared her throat, "Thank you for being with me on the eve of my wedding, even though I'm sure Ren threatened the life of anyone who dared to refuse…" They all chuckled at this and Rey was set more at ease. "But mostly I want to thank you all for keeping my Ben safe, for standing with him through the dissolution of Snoke and the First Order, for believing in our New Order and believing in him."

Tears started to gather in her eyes and Rey sniffed before smiling, "I don't want the food to get cold, so a toast!" She held her glass higher, "To the Force, the New Order, the Knights," her expression softened, "to friends and family," she gazed around at those surrounding her before finishing, "to the Emperor."

"And to the Empress," Cale added and all around cheered in agreement causing Rey's checks to redden further.

"To the future," Rey concluded and then drank.

The meal was merry and filled with stories and laughter. When Rey had first come to this place she dreaded the attention that she was bound to gain in her position by Ben's side but now she made plans to commission a larger table so that all the people she loved, both new and old, would be welcome in her home for a warm meal and an atmosphere so saturated with joy that Rey was almost drunk on it.

Thousands of parsecs away Ben stood on a rocky cliff watching two golden suns drift below the horizon. "Master," Alister's voice drew Ben out of his almost meditative state. When he turned, his first Knight spoke again, "Davin has a camp set up just over the ridge whenever you are ready to eat."

Ben nodded and offered a quiet word of thanks before he turned back towards the dark and churning waters. The outcropping he was on was flat and lacked the moss like vegetation that seemed to cover every other surface of the island. Before him was a vertical stone that appeared to be unnaturally sheered off at chest hight.

Reaching out and touch the smooth but slightly charred top of the stone his eyes fluttered closed and he drew in a sharp breath. So many times he watched Rey be awash with visions but he had only been left with one when they touched hands for the first time through the bond.

At this moment he was in awe of the Force. Not only could he see his beloved as she wielded Anakin's saber but also feel the conflicted but determined emotion that rushed through her during those few days that she spent with Luke.

Back then she had hated Kylo Ren, called him a monster and a murderous snake. This was before he bared his soul to her, before she learned of the pain and betrayal that killed Ben Solo and created Kylo Ren. Her eyes…her body had begged for understanding and acceptance. Her journey towards the Jedi had only caused her to feel more alone and lost, but he had known all along that she would never find her belonging with Luke or with the Resistance.

Being pulled back out of the vision, Ben shuttered with anticipation at the thought of what was to come. His Rey of Light had found her place, found peace and balance. Less than a day cycle from now she would bind herself to him for the rest of eternity. They would be one soul, one flesh, one within the Force and nothing could break that bond once it was made.

He had never been more certain about anything in his entire life and as he listened to the porgs cry out as they made their way back to their nests on the cliffs below, as he felt the crispness of the ocean air on his face, he felt completely gray within the Force even without Rey at his side.

A warmth coated his mind and body and a tear escaped from his closed eyes as he turned around to be cast in a cool blue light. But it was the voice, the one that haunted him for year that caused his calm resolve to shatter.

"Ben…my son."

* * *

 **AN: Happy New Year to you all! I hope you'll be pleased to hear that I keep having more ideas for this story so it may not end as soon as I thought it would. Also, there will be a Part 2. I don't know if I will make it it's own story or just keep it all together.**

 **To all of you that commented about Rey's lie about Poe...just know that if I didn't have to have to lie like that...I wouldn't have done it.**

 **Please drop me a line and let me know what you think! It makes me write fasters and so freaking happy to know that others love this crazy story as much as I do. I have the most amazing readers!**


	34. Part XXXIV

**Part XXXIV**

Ben didn't have to blink or rub at his eyes to know what he was seeing, so instead he just exhaled, "General…"

"We are past that by now, don't you think?" The soft but raspy voice replied.

"I suppose so," Ben replied before gulping down the lump in his throat. "How are you mother?"

Leia looked down at her almost transparent form, "Apart from being dead…"

The sound that escaped Ben was somewhere between a laugh and a sob and Leia's face softened. In her years with the Resistance and dealing with the arrogance of Poe Dameron, she had forgotten how sensitive her son was. "Ben," she tried again, this time softer and reached out a hand.

At first he recoiled from her touch. The last time he remembered feeling comforted by his mother was before he went away to boarding school. A boy of fifteen, sent away from his home to Alsakan, to be surrounded by other children from high born families. But Ben was always different, if it wasn't the poor breeding on his father's part, it was the fact that he had the Force, which scared his peers more than his muddied bloodline.

But the next time she reached for him, Ben did not flinch and she touched the left side of his face, the unscarred skin that still reminded her of the gentle boy he used to be. A tear slid past the pad of her thumb. "You died before I could…" his voice hitched.

"Before you could kill me yourself?" The harsh words were through her lips before she could stop herself.

Ben groaned in both mental and physical anguish, "No mother." His voice echoed off the cliffs, "Before I could make amends."

"Amends?" Leia said the word as if she didn't know the meaning of it coming from her son's mouth.

Pinching the bridge of his nose Ben tried to calm his mind and his heart, "I was led down a path where I made decisions, ones that at the time…" he swallowed, "I didn't think I had any other choice."

"We always have a choice, Ben."

"I didn't!" His voice boomed, just as it had when he yelled at Rey across the throne room. His tone was not one of malice but one that begged for understanding. "Between you and father's constant fighting, always rushing off to help someone…anyone but _me_."

"We had a duty…"

"And what of your duty as a mother? Was I not deemed worthy enough for your time and consideration?"

"We tried…"

"You left me time and time again. Then you sent me away, first to Alsakan, then Coruscant, and finally to _Luke_." Even though on his last trip to Ahch-To he forgave his uncle, the judgement on his mother's face brought all of the anger back. "You saw the darkness in me and you almost sent me to my death!"

Leia finally sighed, dejected and wearing an expression that would almost show shame. "What you uncle tried to do…"

"He tried to kill me, mother."

"The incident…"

"You mean murder!"

The Force ghost snapped, "Yes murder, just like you did to your father."

They were at an impasse. Both staring the other down, waiting for which one was going to blink first.

It was Ben. Just like in the TIE, when he was unable to fire off shots at the Raddus. He knew that when given the choice, he could never hurt his mother. "Do you not think that I have not regretted that decision every second of every day since it happened?" He sounded gutted, torn apart once again.

"I know you have Ben," Leia sighed out her own frustration and sorrow and pressed her fingers to her forehead as if warding off a headache. She had reconnected with Han in the afterlife and while she wished that she could say their relationship was perfect, it was just like being stuck on the _Falcon_ all over again. It appeared that stubbornness carries over in the Force.

Feeling that they have both expelled the pain that they held for years, Leia decided to tell Ben what she crossed over for. "I've been watching you rule…"

"I am trying to do better than Anakin…better than Vader."

"Your grandfather is very proud of you, Ben."

"Grandfather?" He looked like the ten-year-old boy who got to push the _Falcon_ into hyperdrive the first time.

Leia smiled now, "It's Padmé that won't shut up about that girl of yours."

"Rey?" He was reduced to dumbly replying with one-word questions.

Leia hummed, "Yes, little Rey."

"I'm marrying her tomorrow," he said without doubt or shame of their bond.

"I know," Leia nodded but did not look away from her son. "We have seen what you've become. We've seen what you and Rey have accomplished. Your father, your uncle, my mother and father…we have all been watching from within the Force."

Ben wanted to blush, praying that there were some parts of his life, namely the ones that involved himself and Rey being unclothed, that his family was not privy to.

Trying again, Leia reached out and placed her hand on her son's arm, "We are all very proud of what you and Rey are doing."

He stuttered, opening and closing his mouth a few times but no words came out. Finally, he shook his head and looked down at his mother, "You're what?"

Now Leia had to laugh at her son, but it was a sad kind of chuckle that didn't quite cause the wrinkled beside her eyes to crease. "We are proud of you. The Force is with you both."

"Thank you…" he spoke softly, not sure what else to say.

The light around Leia seemed to pulse and she reached out her other hand, now gripping desperately at his arm. "But you must listen to me, Ben. There is still danger out there for you and Rey. Be careful of those that would wish revenge against you both."

"I would die before allowing any harm to come to Rey," he defended.

"I know you would," Leia spoke kindly and stroked her son's face one last time. "But the danger may be closer than you think."

The phantom of his mother faded and he was sunk into darkness. The suns had long since set and the glow of the Force ghost had been the only thing casting a gentle blue light to his surroundings. Now he was alone, the chill of the night air prickling at his neck and he was forced to find his way back to camp only with the light of the worlds single moon.

He might have taken the winding way back down to the small cluster of huts about half way up to the island's peak. His pace was slow, his too large feet kicking out in front of him as he thought back over the interaction with mother from the other side of the Force.

Leia's warning hung with him.

Ben was overly cautious with the people that surrounded him, putting his counselors through borderline intrusive interrogations with help from the Force, to know their intentions. He knew what each of their ambitions was, their strengths and weaknesses. He knew what carrot to dangle or who to threaten when needed.

Perhaps his arrogance was passed down from parents. His mother never balked at a challenge, going up against monarchs, senators…her father…with a quick whit and a sharper tongue. Or from his father who at the tender age of nineteen escaped the Imperial Army, joined a group of pirates, went up against the Red Dawn, and made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs.

His ambition mirrored his grandfather, child of the Force, Chosen One, and Dark Lord of the Sith. Or perhaps his hubris was just as flawed as his uncle's, who was the last Jedi after the cult was obliterated by Order 66, war hero of the Rebellion, awarded the Medal of Bravery after the Battle of Yavin, and teacher…Master of the last Jedi Academy.

Ben's family had not made him a trusting man and he built his Empire on equal parts fear and respect. So while he would heed his mother's words, he was confident in the group that he selected to stay close to Rey and himself. Each of his guards, each of his Knights, would never let a hair be harmed on their Empress' head, of that he was undeniably sure.

So he relaxed on a stone bench around a warm fire and carried on with Alister and Davin on the eve of his wedding.

* * *

Rey woke early the next morning, just the hit of sunrise on the horizon and surprisingly, Arlan was standing by the open closet. "I've run you a bath," she said simply as she laid out simple traveling clothes. "Tyris has just come down to start breakfast so you have some time."

Stretching out her tired limbs, Rey replied with a quiet ' _thank you_ ' and walked into the fresher. The room smelled of rose oil and Rey remembered Ben being helpless but to run his nose along her skin the last time she has such an oil infused soak.

The warm water felt heavenly and even though she had a fitful sleep the prior night, thinking back to the last time she was alone in the apartment waiting for Ben, unsure of the condition he would return to her in. But now she knew that the next time they saw each other they would be wed and she giggled to herself before dipping her head under the cooling water.

Not bothering drying her hair, knowing that the grooming droid would have it's way with her later, Rey pulled on the clothes that Arlan laid out for her on Ben's side of the bed. Before going out to join the guards…her friends for breakfast, Rey picked up his pillow and hugged it to her chest, bending her face into the plush material and breathing in his scent.

A vision overtook her, it was early morning much like the one at present but she could smell the lavender of her Naboo garden blowing through the open windows of the manor. Her eyes were closed but she could feel the warmth of the sun behind her lids as if the whole world was glowing just beyond her waking state.

Beyond the calming earthy scent of the hardy purple flowers, she was surrounded by rich sandalwood and amber with hints of citrus and ozone, unequivocally Ben, and when she opened her eyes his restful face was within inches of her own. The smirk that she loved so dearly pulled at his full lips and his sleep and love rumpled hair caught the light just so that a halo of golden sun appeared around his head.

His warm and steady hand slid over her hip and gripped at her bare rear, pulling her body in closer to his and kissed her nose as she giggled into the scruff of his chin. Her chest had never felt so light and she was unsure if she could ever love anything as passionately and completely as she loves Ben.

Looking up at him with the bond open, Rey closed her lids again, unable to be witness to the ever-present fear that was always just beyond the devotion in his gaze. Pressing her forehead to his, her body racked with regret and for the first time, she understands how Ben would always carry Han's death on his conscience because she now had her own betrayal to bear until the end of her days.

With a gasping breath, Rey came out of the vision. Her heart was racing and she wondered what the future held for them to making her feel such grief. She had not been privy to the inner thoughts, just the feeling behind them and she both yearned for and feared what was to come.

A knock on the door brought her back to the present and Rey looked over her shoulder at Arlan, nodding when she was told that they needed to depart soon and Rey was encouraged to eat something.

Tyris had prepared a simple spread of sweet yogurt, fruit, and of course caf. Rey's nerves were getting to her and she was secretly happy that her friend noticed.

"Are you well?" Arlan asked.

Rey gave a soft but not reassuring smile, "Just jitters I'm sure…" She didn't mention the Force vision, not sure if Arlan would understanding and perhaps did not fully understand it herself.

Bona came into the apartment and announced that the shuttle was ready and they needed to be off. Rey finished her caf and allowed the young Knight to help her with the gray cloak. Arlan assured Rey that her dress was already loaded aboard and that there was nothing Rey should worry about.

Like so many time before, Rey pulled up her hood, kept her face down, and allowed Cale to lead her across the tarmac and on to the MK3. Once inside Rey pulled down her hood and gave Arlan a mischievous raise of her brow.

The guard gave a mock sigh of annoyance, "You can get us off world but then you must go prepare for your wedding."

Rey smiled brightly for the first time that morning, throwing her cloak at Cale and then raced to the cockpit.

"Empress," Bona addressed from the co-pilot's seat and Rey wanted to roll her eyes. Of course, all of the Knight would also know how to fly.

"You might want to strap in for this," Tyris warned from his jump seat, having endured a few of Rey's enthusiastic take offs.

Forty-one seconds Rey thought with glee. She couldn't wait to tell Ben that she got off-world in forty-one seconds, beating her last record. It helped that the Emperor's ship had complete clearance and was able to avoid the ports entering the world, but she still felt high from the flight and the slightly green tint to Bona's face also improved her mood.

Returning the helm to Arlan, the guard placed her hand on the Empress' arm, "Comm me when you are ready to get into your dress and I will help."

Rey nodded with a genuine smile. She wondered how many more dresses in her tenure as ruler Arlan would help her into. It was a strange feeling for Rey to have so many trusted people in her life, but she was also plagued with some sorrow over the fact that her first friends, Finn, Poe, and Rose, were the ones she was lying to.

The people in the shuttle with her now, the ones that were delivering her to wed the Emperor of the galaxy in secret, they knew her almost as intimately as her soon to be husband, expect in the carnal way of course. But they knew her past, her present, her truth, her purpose, and they loved and accepted her for and in spite of it all.

Taking hyperspace lanes would add extra time and undue parsecs to their travels, so Arlan relied on the advance free space computers and Bona relied on the Force to get them from the Core to the Unknown Regions safely.

The grooming droid was not the same one that assisted Rey on Naboo, but it was just a silent but effective. Her hair was softly swept back from her face and when she was given a handheld mirror to see the back, a sob choked in the back of her throat. Three braided buns trailed down the back of her head but instead of her simple knots, they were twisted and pulled in such a way that it appeared as if her dull locks had been turned into large blooming roses.

"Do you not like it?" The droid finally spoke. "It is what the Emperor selected."

"The Emperor?" Rey asked dumbly.

"Yes, your Imperial Majesty."

If a droid could wear a worried expression, that is what was painted on the white humanoid shaped bot's face.

Reaching back to lightly touch the buns Rey cried harder. Ben saw her, understood her, loved her, and it didn't matter to him if she was in gowns that cost thousands of credits or if she was in scavenger's rags, his desire and acceptance of her would never change.

"I love it," Rey was finally able to say and she was thankful that her makeup was not yet done because her tears would have ruined it all.

About an hour later Rey sent a comm to the cockpit and a few minutes later Arlan was crossing the threshold of her ruler's quarters. "Empress," she breathed out in wonder. Even in a gray bathrobe, Rey was a sight to behold. With glossy hair and light but glowing makeup, Arlan knew that Ben would be beside himself.

The guard and the droid set to the task of reacquainting Rey with the dress that she had selected weeks early. The lace still felt as soft, the layers still accented the slight swell of her hips, the embroidery and beading still provided some semblance of modesty as she could see the creamy skin of her breasts but the blush of her nipples were concealed.

"Shoes Empress?" The droid asked holding up a pair of ivory silk pumps.

"No shoes," Rey replied, knowing that traversing the island in heels would be next to impossible but there was also something carefree and unmistakably _Rey_ about being barefoot at her wedding.

They all shifted when the shuttle was pulled from hyperspace and Arlan steadied her friend by placing her hands on Rey's shoulders. "We are starting out decent. Are you ready?"

Rey smiled, just now picking up Ben's signature through the Force and her heart seemed to only beat with and for that man. "I've never been more ready for anything in my entire life."

* * *

It was a few hours past noon on the island in the middle of what seemed like an endless ocean. The first time Ben had come here, he knew it was the one from Rey's dreams and was even more amazed that his little scavenger was not awakened in the Force or found by his old Master long ago.

That morning he had paced relentlessly in the small village of stone huts, successfully avoiding the one that had been his uncle's self-imposed prison cell for years. Instead, he had used one across the simple stone courtyard to dress.

Earlier that day he had laid upon the slab bench, looking up at the interlocking stones that made up the domed roof. The hard surface below him held an unnatural warmth and as if not in control of himself, he sat up in a lazy manner as if waking. Standing, he crossed the small hut and reached out to touch a spot on the opposite wall where the bricks looked to have been recently repaired.

"Rey," he spoke out into the Force and he was answered with the same warmth under his fingertips.

Now having been approached by Alister and informed that the shuttle was about to break atmosphere, Ben started to fidget with his cape, wondering if it was too much. He was dressed much like his mother's father, or at least the one she was raised by. Ben's take on Alderaanian royal dress was his more formal black boots, pants, and tunic, but his coat was gray and high collared and adorned with silver.

His saber was hooked to a belt worn on the outside of the coat, but instead of the battle scraped black buckle, one made of silver and stamped with the symbol of those who were balanced within the Force, sat clasped around his mid section.

The biggest departure from his normal dress was the dark blue velvet caped that draped over his shoulders. It had two large slits on the sides so that he had free use of his arms and hands while the heavy fabric still flanked his chest.

He left his hands bare, thinking it unfathomable to not be able to feel her soft skin the moment she was within reach. When he heard the ruble of ion engines circle the island, he looked at his surroundings.

The temple was dark and wet from the lack of windows and the constant spray from the sea blow. Light streamed in through the entrance from the island side and also the opening to the precipice where a flat meditation stone sat. He had surmised that this is where his uncle met his end and became one with the Force.

A mosaic of small colored stones were set into the floor where water barely an inch deep settled. The crest of the Prime Jedi stood the test of time. If this truly was the first temple, then the teaching had been pure, before the modern Jedi, before the Sith, before there were sides to fight against each other and he had thought it only proper that two balanced Force users be joined in such a place.

Rey and Ben were the last of a kind and also the first of a new breed. Their foundation was both in the Dark and the Light, able to see the benefits of peace and passion, that knowledge was power, and that victory can be obtained with serenity and harmony. They were gray, they were balanced, they were the Force.

Their love would foster a new era, not only for the galaxy but also for those blessed with the Force. Ben had not always seen the Force as a blessing, but now as he felt Rey's joyful anticipation through her signature, he bared his soul to the Cosmos and expressed his unwavering gratitude to the Force for this day and the many more to come with Rey at his side.

Checking his right pant pocket, he felt the cool metal of the three rings that would signify their commitment to eternity. When he pulling his hand free, he brought it to the object that hung in his left hand, and with his hands now clasped in front of his hips, he gripped the sharp points of the crown against his palms.

Thin cords of black and white gold twisted among themselves as if vines crudely woven together to form the crown. Thorns of Mustafarian obsidian were patterned almost by nature along the vines. Some were so dark that light was unable to pass through the volcanic glass, while others had points that shone red as if having just drawn blood.

Placing the crown upon his head, Ben felt some of the thorns dig into this flesh, not enough to break the skin, but enough to be felt by the wearing. The crown of thorns was to remind him of his sins, to be a physical manifestation of the sorrow and hardships he had caused in the past, and that wearing a crown often came with more burden than pleasure.

Looking to the case that sat upon the stone floor, Ben itched to finally crown his Empress, a coronation before their friends, his Knights, and before the Force.

His thoughts were jarred by Alister stepping into the entrance of the temple. "Your bride approaches," he announced simply.

Ben had not been this nervous when his father let him fly the _Falcon_ solo for the first time, his first day of boarding school, when he joined his uncle's academy, when he was Knighted a Jedi, when he ran away to Snoke, or when he was bestowed the titles of apprentice and Master of the Knights of Ren. The only moment in time that could compare to this in the amount of anxiety that flowed through him was when he watched his old Master tear into the woman he was about to marry. But he had been as true in his intent to kill Snoke as he is in the resolve to spend the rest of his days loving and honoring his wife.

With Alister standing to his right, Ben watched Davin, Cale, Bona, and Jix file into the temple, two standing on each side of the entrance as sentry and witness. Alister nudged his Master with his elbow and they both exchanged a smile.

"You ready for this?" The Knight asked.

"I've been waiting my entire life for this," Ben answered almost breathlessly.

Arlan entered next and stood opposite Alister. She had been shocked and completely honored when as the shuttle was coming to land on the solitary island that Rey had turned to her and asked if the guard that had shown nothing but kindness and respect would stand up with her during the ceremony. She gave her Emperor a reassuring smile as she took her place to his left.

Ben felt her before he saw her and it was like the sunrise after years of night. His heart and breath seemed to still at the same time and by seer will of the Force, he was able to stay on his feet as she came into view.

The two sun's beams poured through the precipice opening and created an isle of light for her follow to him. His strong and beautiful Rey was draped in lace and crystals that threw prisms of light in her wake across the dull walls of the temple. He couldn't help but smile as he saw her small bare toes peek out form under the billows of cream lace that seemed to sway around her ankles with an unfelt breeze. The only thing that shone brighter than her inner light was the smile that she beamed at him.

Rey had never seen Ben look more like a Prince…Emperor before now. He was the perfect combination of his heritage and a legacy of his own making. He had his mother's eyes, his father's smirk, his grandfather's strength, and his grandmother's grace. He gave respect to House Organa and exuded the power of the self-made Empire of Ren.

She took each step as she had been moving towards this moment since her conception and it was possible that she was created for this very moment and she accepted long ago to not question the Force. Even on cold nights in her AT-AT when she was half staved or when she was so thirsty that her body refused to sweat in the unrelenting Jakku sun, she had never desired anything more than to be joined for eternity with the painfully handsome man extending his hand to her.

Without any hesitation, Rey slid her fingers into his waiting palm and they both seemed to sigh with the contact. He took a step closer and ran his free hand softly against her cheek, "Beautiful," he said before dipping to press his lips to hers.

"I think you are supposed to wait until after we are married to kiss me," Rey said in a whispered jest.

Ben smiled down at his bride, "When have I ever followed the rules?"

Rey answered with her own kiss, "Hopefully never."

Alister cleared his throat and the couple was brought out of their public but seemingly private moment. Ben took a half step back from Rey, dropping her hand for a moment as he went for his pocket, "Irris would kill me if we didn't do this properly."

Giving him a confused look, Rey watched something glowing come from behind the velvet cape before Ben drops down to one knee. The ring he held out was simple upon first glance but she could tell the rough cut stone at the center was kyber.

"Rey, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

Of course, his first proposal in the hangar on Kuat would always be the story she would tell when people asked how she agreed to marry the most powerful man in the galaxy, but that did not make this moment any less sincere. But in the whimsical spirit of their combined mood, Rey shrugged her shoulders before saying, "I'm already in the dress so I might as well."

All in attendance chuckled, thankfully this also included Ben as he slid the ring on to the proper finger. The moment that the cool and slightly dark gold piece was situated, all joking slid from Rey's expression as she sucked in a breath. "I can feel you."

Ben looked slightly bashful as he stood back up from his kneeling position, "It's a piece from my kyber."

Rey ran the fingertips of her right hand along the stone, appraising it with an intense stare before turning her gaze up to Ben. "It's blue," she said somewhere between a question and a statement. "How?"

He reaches back out to cup her cheek as he spoke, "With enough determination, patience, and love even the deepest wounds can be healed."

Propriety be damned, Rey threw her arms around his neck and kissed him again with all the fierceness of her love.

When they finally parted and she was lowered back to her feet, Ben pressed his forehead to hers. "You never gave me your answer."

Rey gave him a blinding smile and stared deeply into his gaze as she answered, "Yes Ben. Let's get married."

A calm settled over the temple as Ben and Rey turned to face each other, standing just before the symbol of the Gray Jedi set into the stone floor for all time.

Taking in a deep breath Ben took her hands in his and seemed to fall in love with her all over again as joy danced in her hazel eyes and she looked upon him like she was just as anxious to start the rest of her life with him.

"Rey," he breathed her name like a prayer. "The love you've shown me is beyond anything my childhood self could dream up. It's awe-inspiring, genuine, and fierce…sometimes all at once." His expression was light and her giggle was like music. "At the same time, your love has taught me to find what I spent so long searching for within my own self."

Squeezing her hands he brought them up to his lips and kissed her knuckles. "Balance…balance within my past, present, and future. Balance within our love and balance in the Force.

"I want you to join me in this life and every other in the after, to be my partner, equal, and lover…the Light to my Dark, mother to our children, and Empress to our galaxy. I will spend my every breath attempting to be worthy of your love, protecting your Light, and being the star that will guide you home."

He pulled another ring from his pocket, this one had raw edges of a stone encased in the same bronze tinted gold. The surface was smooth but it looked like a dark ocean swirled with brilliant colors crashing onto a shore of liquid gold and as he spun the ring onto her finger the colors shifted much in the same way he remembers from when the stone was whole and rested upon his mother's finger.

"From this day forth, we will have a bond stronger than flesh and blood, more profound than the bond forged within the Force, because this bond is given freely, with love, respect, understating, and acceptance." Pushing the ring to sit next to the one that held a piece of his kyber, Ben pulled her hand back up and placed a kiss over the two rings that solidified his commitment to Rey.

Before she could start her vows, Ben wiped the tears that had fallen upon her cheeks and took her right hand, reaching in his pocket once more before sliding his ring over her thumb so that she could present it to him when she was ready.

She took in her own calming breath and attempted to stay her tears long enough to get through her speech. So gazing up into his lovely face, she ran her left thumb along the scar on his face, "I hated you before I love you."

The group chuckled and a tear followed the track down his check that her thumb just carved. "When people ask how we met, the story will never be a dull one, but I think that I have always been yours, just as you have always been mine.

"You awakened me, not only to the Force but to what it really means to be loved…wanted, and you have given me something that I yearned for my whole life…family." She looked around those in attendance and gave a special smile to Arlan but her heart hurt that Rose could not be there as well.

"I am in continuous amazement of the man you have become and I am so proud to call you mine," she took his left hand and kissed his palm.

"Ben, I desire for you to join me with your body, your soul, and within the Force. I pledge myself to you in this life, in the next, and in the beyond. I will be your protector, your lover, your equal, your balance. I will give us a family and we will not make the mistakes of those who came before us. I will be your wife, your Empress, and your constant Light in the Dark. I will always be your star, just as you will always be my home."

She slid the ring off her thumb, seeing that it had the same rawly cut stone set in the same dark gold but the width of it was about double that of the ring that rested upon her finger. As she pushed the ring up his finger, Ben's face had become impossibly close to hers and she whispered up into the space between them, "Our bond is formidable, profound, and given freely. No power will breach what we have built."

With his wedding band firmly in place, Ben didn't waste another moment in taking her lips against his and sealing their vows with a kiss that allowed their bond to flow and swirl as their emotions becoming one and the same.

When they parted with Ben's cupping her face and smiling down upon her, Rey searched his expression for any doubt or regret and found none. "I love you, husband."

Her voice was the sweetest sound he ever heard and he gave a playful kiss to her nose, "I love you, wife."

* * *

 **AN: Happy New Year everyone! I can't believe we are finally here! The crazy kids got married!**

 **I love your comments! I smiled and laughed like an idiot when reading them...even though I had a trainee with me at work!**

 **I'm so excited about what is to come!**


	35. Part XXXV

**Part XXXV**

The Force blazed and pulsed around them, both Rey and Ben almost drunk on power but he was able to take a step back from his _wife_ …he had to mentally pinch himself to know this was truly real, and he turned to Alister and nodded.

The Knight and Davin crossed the temple at the same time, moving to a dark corner where the guard carried a low tufted bench that was covered in the same velvet of Ben's cape. He set it before his Master while Alister held a gray wooden case at chest height.

"Kneel." Ben's voice was commanding, and a chill ran through Rey thinking back to her quarters when he had dominated her, shoving his cock in-between her rosy lips as penance for her lie about Dameron.

But she complied, thankful that she wouldn't be ruining her dress on the wet stone floor of the temple. When she was situated before him, her face upturn to look upon her husband and she couldn't help return his boyish smile even though she knew that this should be a serious moment.

Alister pulled open the lid to the case and Ben reached in, pulling out the crown that would sit upon his Empress' head as she ruled at his side for as long as the Force allowed and the galaxy needed.

If the rings that sat upon her finger now didn't hold so much sentiment and literally a piece of Ben's soul, Rey would have thought them mere trinkets when compared to the piece that her Emperor held in his hands.

It was made out of the same cords of dark and light gold, twisted among themselves but they had been hammered to mimic a more natural shape of branches. Twelve kybers were spaced along the front of the crown as it appeared that it was made to be woven into her hair and not encircle her head like Ben's.

The kybers were left more naturally shaped and glowed hues of pink, blue, and purple in the early evening suns. Silver filigree warped each crystal helping them stay erect and around their base were delicate roses carved from pearls, opals, and other precious stones. She even saw purple crystal beads strung together to look like springs of lavender tucked among the garden of carved jewels that the kybers appears to be sprouting from.

"These kybers come from each corner of your Empire," Ben started, holding the crown down so that she could get a closer look at it. "The worlds of Christophsis, Ilum, Jedha, Lothal, and Mygeeto are honored for their crystals to sit upon their Empress' head."

Reaching out, Rey felt the power of each planet swirling within the kybers and for a moment she almost felt small and unworthy to be bestowed such sovereignty. Sensing her wavering confidence, Ben caught her gaze and held conviction in his expression, "Our people will love you just as I do."

Lowing her hand back to her side and nodding with her lips tight in determination, Rey looked up at her husband, her Emperor, and through their bond showed him that she was ready for the final commitment to him, to the Force.

"Will you solemnly promise and swear to lead the people of our Empire, according to the laws set at the hands of the Emperor and Empress and with guidance through the Force?"

As if her mind had always known the words, Rey spoke, "I solemnly promise so to do."

"Will you use your power within the Force to uphold law and justice, in mercy, to be executed in all your judgments?"

"I will."

"Will you uphold your vows made earlier this day to your Emperor, forsaking all others, and be his equal, his counsel, and the Light that he will be pulled to til the end of his reign?"

"Always," Rey said almost in a loving coo.

Four hundred and eighty-seven days ago aboard the _Supremacy_ Kylo Ren asked Rey to join him, to stay, but she had not. Many nights he lay awake wondering if she had stayed would their relationship, their love be as it became, or would his hastiness have caused her to hate him.

Their time apart and then their gradual time together has allowed them to grow, Ben as a man and sovereign and Rey within herself and the Force. Instead of growing distant, they flourished under the tender care of their love for one another and the ever guiding hand of the Force.

So after almost a year and a half since leaving each other bleeding and broken on Crait, Ben placed the crown upon his wife's, his Empress' head. He observed her eyes closed as the cool metal was set upon her quaffed hair, but not because the weight was too much or uncomfortable, but because she was connecting to the kybers that steeped in her Light and would shine with her benevolence until the end of days.

"Rise Rey, Empress of the People, Protector of the Light, and Wielder of Balance, Mistress of the Knights of Ren, equal only to her beloved, Emperor Ren of the New Order."

As he spoke, Ben extended his hand again, but this time it was his left and Rey did the same, letting the brilliant wedding rings slide together with a solidifying click. The air around them seemed to pulse as if time itself had been waiting for this moment when everything in the galaxy would finally be as it should.

Since opening her eyes at the end of his speech, their gaze had not broken and now that she stood before him, Rey gave him a coy smile, "So you have achieved the unthinkable." When his brows pinched together she took her hand from his grasp and placed it upon the right side of his face, her rings felt like a balm to his scarred skin. "I have fallen in love with you, married you, and been crowned your Empress."

Ben couldn't help the satisfied smile that creased his cheeks. "The journey to this point has been indeed…invigorating," he quipped back.

"Yes," her pupils dilated. "It has, but what are you to do with me now, Emperor," she bit her lip, "Now that you have everything you have ever wanted?" At the end of her question, Rey's long lashes fluttered for just a moment as she dipped into a shallow curtsey.

Catching under her chin with his fingers, Ben brought her gaze back up to hers and his dark eyes burned for her, "You bow down to no one, especially not to me." As she stood tall again, Ben sank to his knees upon the tufted bench that still sat between them. He wanted to show his guards, his Knights, the trusted circle of people that he knew would keep his wife safe, that it was she that sat at the center of his universe. It was Rey who was all of their salvation and she was to be honored, protected, worshiped, be the beacon of hope and Light that was her destiny.

All around them the six others also sank down to one knee, each dipping lower than their Emperor in a gesture of homage and loyalty to the Empress.

Even with him kneeling, Ben was just a few inches shorter than Rey and she took advantage of this by gripping the sides of his face and bringing him in for a searing kiss. On instinct Ben wrapped his arms around her back, cupping at her hip and rear.

Cale was the first to raise his gaze from the stone floor of the temple and upon seeing his Masters locked together in an intimate embrace, he nudged the Knight next to him, "I think that is our cue to give them some privacy."

The newlyweds barely gave any notice to the footfalls exiting the temple, too enraptured with each other, as if they created their own forcefield to block the outside world from interrupting even a moment of their bliss.

As Rey raked her fingers through Ben's hair, one of the obsidian thorns of his crown caught her finger and she pulled away from him with a sharp inhale of breath. Still knelt before her, he captured her wrist and inspected the injured finger, one crimson droplet gathering on her pale skin.

"Blood of my blood," Ben whispered as he pressed a kiss to her finger, gathering her life source upon his full lips, tinting them an even darker shade of pink than they naturally held. The almost feral growl that sounded in the hollow of Rey's chest shocked him just as much as her lips hungrily moving against his again.

The tang of copper spread across both their tongues, but as they parted Rey gave his lips one more lick to clean them of not only her blood but also perhaps the countless other's that he had spilled in his dark days. Her gaze was hooded but true when Rey reached up and carefully removed the crown from Ben's head, setting it in the still open case at their feet.

Next, she removed her own crown, resting it next to the Emperor's, thrones tanged with roses, the perfect balance of pain and pleasure, their sorted pasts and their bright future kept safe in a case as gray as they were in the Force.

Turning her attention back to Ben, Rey ran her hand back along her mark across his face and through his hair, "I don't need an Emperor…I just need my husband. I will always only need you."

He groaned in pained frustration and he wished there was some spell within the Force that would leave them unclothes and seated together in the quickest manner possible, even though he was wearing enough layers that he was sure to go mad with lust before Rey could even lay a single warm hand upon his flesh. But he would try none the less and with a quick flick of his fingers, the clasp of his cape was open and he shrugged the heavy fabric off his shoulders. All the while his lovely wife worked at his coat and it too was soon on the glistening store floor.

Rey was no stranger to his dark tunics and to both of their reliefs, his chest was bare in what appeared to be less than a minute. With another joined assault on the other's lips and as Rey's small but determined hands roamed over his shoulders and back, they seemed to radiate heat into the large cavern, and Ben finally moved his hands under her skirts enough to cup the rear of her thighs and bring her to be wrapped around his torso as he stood.

The train of the dress still touched the floor as he carefully walked forward, needing some leverage before he went about lavishing the pale skin of her neck. When her back came to rest against the temple wall, Rey whimpered with need and Ben wished to never deny her any desire for the rest of their days.

With an intentional grip, Rey pulled at his hair and tipped his chin up slightly so that she could lick along the cords of his neck, tasting the sharpness of his cologne mixed with his natural musk and groaning at the way her body reacted to him. "Need you…what you…" she panted into his ear as she took the lobe between her teeth and pulled.

This time he growled lowly at her as he frantically looked around for a ledge of some kind that he could use to prop her against just long enough to free his straining erection from the black dress pants. The settings suns shining through the opening in the temple wall was like a sign from the Maker and Ben moved towards the precipice. The chilled ocean breeze was almost welcome on their heated skin and in a few striding steps Ben was draping his bride over the rock that sat at the pinnacle of the ledge.

Finally releasing him, Rey laid back across the meditation rock and just like she had, what seemed like in another life, she splayed her fingers along the rough texture and closed her eyes, reaching out with the Force and feeling the complete balance of the island. "Do you feel it?" Rey asked as she opened her hooded eyes to look up at her husband.

"I do," Ben said as he placed a kiss against the inside of her calf.

Crooking her finger at him, Rey needed Ben's lips back on hers and he settled his hips into the cradle of her thighs as he was helpless to oblige. They kissed for a long moment, all tongue and teeth, Rey seeming almost desperate to draw a drop of his blood as hers had been drawn.

When they were both panting and in need of air, Ben worked his way back down her neck and nibbled at her lace covered collar bone. "Want to feel you," he muffled into her neck.

"Yes," she almost hissed with the perfect mix of soft lace and sharp teeth against her skin.

Ben lifted his foot at the same time that his hand reached down and he pulled the blade from the cuff of his boot. The simple flip-out knife had been a gift from his father on his sixteenth birthday. His mother had forbidden Ben from constructing a lightsaber, but his scrappy father thought that every man should have a means of protection.

At the time Ben had scoffed, thinking back to the time during his first year at boarding school where the prince from Pavia had questioned Ben's royal birth right, which had not angered him much, but the comment about how his mother was a whore for low hanging fruit was what sent him into a rage. He had thrown the prince through a window without laying a single hand upon his physical body.

From that day forth, no one at school bothered him, which unfortunately perpetuated his loneliness, he was a Skywalker-Organa-Solo…he was meant for greater things than friends, or Maker forbid a girlfriend. None the less, his father said that every young man needed a blade, whether made of plasma or Mandalorian steel.

So now feeling the warm steel in his grip, Ben would suffer dozens of disappointing birthdays, thousands of times watching Han trot up the ramp of the _Falcon_ without looking back at his son who waved helplessly on the tarmac, and countless lonely night while his mother was out driving the galaxy into ruin, one vote at a time…he would live a hundred sorted childhoods just to always end up under the loving gaze of his Rey of light.

With a roll of his thumb, the dark blade flicked out and if Rey was shocked, there was no evidence of it on her face. "Hold very still," he commanded and he smirked when her chest started to heave more drastically. Gripping the pleats of lace at the base of her breast bone he pulled the bodice of the dress away from her skin just enough to easily pierce the gauzy fabric.

Rey sucked in a breath when she felt cool steel against her stomach and she almost wanted to beg him to flay her open and take her heart because it would always belong to him. Her chest almost quivered as she attempted to calm her breaths and at a slow and agonizing pace, Ben started to move the knife up her sternum.

Not only could she feel, but also hear each delicately woven thread give way and crystal beads popped around her, falling from the cliffs and to be forever lost to the dark sea that raged below them. As he reached the center of her chest, Rey tipped her chin up giving him access to the high collar of the dress.

Feeling the blade ghost along her throat she almost wished that he would mark her as she had made him. Perhaps not with a scar that would bisect her face, but a physical manifestation of their belonging, their bond, a mated mark. When the final stitch was broken, she keened for his touch, but he just leaned back and single-handedly twisted the blade into the handle and slid it back into his boot.

"Husband," she pleaded softly, helpless to try rubbing her thighs together and bite at her lip.

This got Ben's undivided attention and he was once again pressed against her, his large hands running up the sides of her ribs as his thumbs ghosted over her pebbled nipples. His palms traveled all the way up until they were pressed on each side of her throat before he let them drift under the now splayed lace of the dress.

She arched up into his touch and rolled her hips, groaning when instead of rubbing up against his hard length, she was met with the softness of billows of her dress. "Wife," he replied back into the pulse point just under her ear.

Rey found his lips again and to her blessing, Ben moved his right hand away from her chest and run it up her leg, gathering her dress on the way and when he reached the apex of her legs, her cursed, "Fuck Rey," when he was met by only her glistening folds.

Dragging his teeth along her jaw again, he dipped two fingers into her waiting heat and she breathed out her own curse or maybe it was a prayer, but he knew without a doubt that she would strangle him with the Force if he were to stop now. Normally he would take his time, bring her to a quaking peak with his mouth or fingers first, but she was yearningly ready for him as her slick gathered in his palm.

Unfastening his trousers with his left hand was awkward and the extra seconds had Rey reaching up to assist him when the trusting tempo of his fingers faltered. Her chilled hand was wrapped around his hot and ramrod hard flesh as soon as he was within reach and Ben hissed at the contrast, but he timed his fingers with each pump of her fist as he lay wet open mouth kisses upon her breastbone.

"Sweetheart," he panted.

"Please," she replied.

As seamlessly as possible, Ben pulled his hand away from her long enough to coat himself in her slick before he was diving into her up to the hilt. Their skin slapped together and they both whimpered with the connection.

Time seemed to slow down and it wasn't just the physical joining of their bodies, it was the way the jagged edges of their souls clicked into place and their very essence, all soothing cyanine and provoked crimson swirled, blending into a brilliant violet that painted the sky behind the pair of setting suns.

It was as if the foundation of the temple, the foundation of the Prime Jedi, half Light and half Dark, existing and drawing power and guidance from both sides of the Force, flowed through them purely and without judgment. They were two parts of a whole that were bound completely and everlasting.

All of this passed between them, through them, to and from the balance in the Force that the island held, in mere seconds as they both gasped for breath. "Incredible," Ben remarked, just as awestruck by the feeling he doubted any other soul had ever experienced, as he was by the flushed and wanton woman under him.

His fingers lingered on her chest as her nails dug into the flexing muscles of his abdomen, unsure if they were asking for a reprieve or begging for their partner to move. Both of them were answered when Rey rolled her hips and Ben pivoted forward at the same time, creating friction so deep that it became unclear where each of them started and ended.

Rey's head tipped back, hanging off the edge of the rock and she basked in the light of Ahch-To's suns as her husband started to move within her. His hands gripped at flesh and lace, a warm throat and a quivering thigh as her pleasure filled cries mixed with those of the porgs that were once more coming home to roost upon the sides of the cliffs below.

While this joining was not their most romantic or tender, both still half clothed, her dress in ruins and his pants bunched around his knees, it was fueled by the purest of passions. It was as if she had been fighting her whole life against this moment and was unable to fathom why. In his darkest time, Ben dreamed of this, not fucking his wife in the first Jedi temple, but being loved and accepted fully by someone who shone more brilliantly than the brightest star in their galaxy.

So for them, this raw rushed, and almost ruthless lovemaking was perfect. They would have the rest of time to move slowly, whisper affirmations into the other's skin, and peak with hushed whimpers and sighs, but at what felt like the climax of their existence, there was only heat and a driving need of vindication.

As Ben ran his thumb along her lower lip, Rey tilted her head up, taking the digit within her mouth sucking on it before biting down when he started rhythmically stroking the spot deep within her that made sparks fly from behind her eyelids. His other hand was tucked within the cut lace, gripping her breast or shoulder to keep her from sliding off the rock platform with each of his brutal thrusts.

Licking the pad of his thumb once more, Rey eased up her jaw so that she could start panting his name and begging him not to stop. Her body felt alight, thinking that perhaps steam could be seen rising from her heated flesh and up into the rapidly cooling dusk air. Ben's face was beaded with sweat and some of his dark locks stuck to his forehead, but he showed no evidence of fatigue, keeping pace as he started to hear her breaths coming in sucking gasps.

The smaller of the two suns was already overtaken by the deep sea and the larger, brighter star blazed and cast them both in orange light. Ben could feel his beloved start to quake, quickly rushing for her peak, and he was always amazed at how his body was so eager to follow.

Just as the latent sun touched the horizon, Rey's body constricted and a slur of cries and breathless gulps rack her throat. A warmth set deep in his gut at the pride of bringing his bride to such heights, but he also felt his body start to chase her pleasure. His cock was being squeezed so tight that it was almost painful to move, but he was helpless but to continue his thrusts.

Finally when her inner walls started to flutter, pulsing and pulling did Ben tip over into ecstasy with Rey.

They were not strangers to the intense feeling of falling into bliss together, consistently endeavoring to never leave the other wanting, but there was a noted distinction to this moment as their bodies stilled before their hearts and lungs started to work in tandem.

The first time Rey had rested upon this precipice, engaged in the meager and seemingly conflicting lessons of the Force from Luke, Rey had reached for the Darkness when it called, the stone ledge had cracked and the unbridled power she showed scared the old Jedi. But now instead of feeling as if the world was crumbling around them, it was as if what was once broke was now mended.

Long after the waves of pleasure ceased to crash within them, there remained the feeling of healing, hope, and renewal. It was as if everything they had been fighting for, working towards, living for, was finally coming to fruition.

Both of their expression were slack with wonder, having the sensation as if they were being graced with a second awakening, seeing beyond sight, shrouded by a Light that neither would ever be able to put words to, but also would never be able to forget the feeling of.

Tears started to slide from her eyes, even though she was unable to place the exact emotion that was causing them. She was elated, eager, and sated, while also being nervous, apprehensive, and downright terrified of what this new power meant.

"Don't be scared," Ben whispered down to her, catching her tears with his fingertips.

"Do you feel it too?" She searched his large dark eyes and was desperate for understanding, to know that this new Light, this new Force, was something they shared.

He smiled and stroked her cheek again, "Yes Rey. It's the beginning…the belonging…the balance…the Force."

She swallowed thickly and nodded, tears now being held at bay. "Yes," she said not only to him but also to convince herself, even though she felt within her very being that there was something much bigger and life-altering at work here.

Seeing Rey start to shiver now that the moon was providing more light than the rapidly dipping sun, Ben pulled free of her, righting his pants before lowing the skirt of her dress back over her legs. "Come," he held out his hand and smiled when she quickly slid her fingers against his palm.

They walked back into the temple and he picked up his cape, placing it around her shoulders, proving some warmth but also some modesty from the cut bodice of her dress. He pulled on his tunic and handed his coat to Rey as well, watching her hold is close to her chest and inhale the smell of him.

Lastly, he gathered the chest that held both their crowns, closing the lid and snapping the latch, he thought about the next time she would wear the jewels would be when she was presented to the galaxy as his wife and their Empress. He buzzed with pride and ever in awe of her.

The walk down to the small stone huts was quiet, the bliss of their union, both in matrimony and also intimately, hung between them. Rey still had an inkling that the Force was trying to tell her something, something that Ben was not yet privy to and it made her feel both special and alone in equal measures.

Feeling the foreign weight on her left hand, Rey looked down and inspected the gold and stone that encircled her finger. "Tell me about our rings," Rey asked, knowing there was more behind them than just his kyber.

Ben reached out and grasped her left hand, running the pad of his thumb over her bands. "My mother's ring that you brought to me after she died," he heard her small gasp and stopped his forward motion, setting down the case so that he could lay both his hands upon her. "That was when you came to me, not to save me but to love me, which saved me all the same. That was when we first made love, when I knew that this day would come."

Tears were back in her eyes again and he kissed each of her cheeks before she looked down at the rings, the glowing kyber causing the other stones to shift with pearlescent colors. "The nebula opal," she mused.

"Yes," he lovingly smiled down at her. "I had pieces of the stone reset into the same gold," he twisted his ring around his finger, still amazed at Malkolm's craftsmanship, how he was able to so seamlessly meld the raw edges of the stones with the dark gold. "The rest of the opal was ground into dust and return to its people."

Rey remember Ben saying that the ring was part of the Alderaan crown jewels and when they had flown to the edge of sector M10 and he showed her his Kingdom of nothing but stardust, she found it fitting that not only was he returning a part of history, but also a piece of his mother to their rightful place. To Ben, it had been a welcomed closure, a burial for the mother that he never got to say ' _good-bye_ ' to.

Touching his face in the loving way that only she could, Rey expressed her approval wordlessly and he bent to kiss her upturned lips. "She's at peace…" he exhaled. "I saw my mother in the Force and she's at peace."

With a shocked and almost anxious expression, Rey gripped at his tunic, "Luke…your father?" She asked frantically, searching his face for reassurance that there was serenity in the beyond for all those they have lost.

"They are together," he answered before looking down at her hands that were still fisted in his shirt and he snorted a laugh. "Fighting as only Skywalkers can, but they are together."

Rey visibly relaxed her posture, relieved by the news and almost felt that their passings may not have been in vain if only in death could they be a family again.

"Padmé likes you," he cooed down at her.

"She does?" Rey asked in wonder.

"I told you she would." Ben smiled down at her again, kissed her lips and then started their walk back down to the village.

He kept his mother's warning to himself, not wanting to upset Rey on their wedding night. Tucking the small blip of foreboding behind the walls of overconfidence, sheer power, and desire to keep her safe, Ben listened to his bride prattle on about how she always felt that she would be dear friends with his grandmother and she wondered if Padmé was anything like Irris before coming to the conclusion that the galaxy would be unable to handle two women like his cousin, even if they lived generations apart.

Beyond any vow that he made that day under the watchful eye of the Prime Jedi and the Gray Force, he would move worlds to ensure that his bright and joyful girl would never again know hardships, that he would work tirelessly to ensure her happiness, and that he would love her til his dying breath and then into the beyond.

* * *

AN: I don't even know what to say here...I know what I have to do but I don't know if I have the strength.

Will you all help me?


	36. Part XXXVI

**Part XXXVII**

The bond did not open that night and while she sat alone in her quarters, Rey ran her fingers along the smooth edges of the folded parchment. Her wedding bands rested securely on the third finger of her left hand and she wondered if she would be able to rest at all with what the next day was bound to bring.

The entire base was asleep, and with light no brighter than a single candle cast around her room, Rey finally cracked the wax seal on the letter Davin gave her on Orinda. Ben's script is beautiful as always and she ghosted her fingers over the dark ink as she read his words.

 _My Dearest Wife,_

 _I was adrift in a sea of Darkness before you swept into my life, all beautifully bared teeth and brilliant blaster fire. But then there you were, a beacon in the night, an island of Serenity amongst endless torment. I no longer fear the future, growing old and death, because I know you will be there to safely guide me home._

 _Tomorrow we will embark on an endeavor that has not been accomplished for generations. You of the Light and myself rising from the Dark, have found balance and now we will bring peace to the galaxy and to our Empire._

 _Through all of this, through the battles and pain, loss and love, you must know that it was you, my sweet wife and brave Empress. You are the reason that peace will be made on this next sunrise. I am so proud to be yours and I wait with honored anticipation to tell the rest of the galaxy what you have done to save us all._

 _Your ever loving servant,_

 _Ben_

Rey finally found slumber with her husband's kyber and his loving words pressed to her chest. Some time in the night, she sensed his warmth, caught his smell on the recycled air of the underground base, felt his kiss upon her neck, but she woke alone, sighing contently at such a wonderful dream.

The sun rose over Dantooine on day five hundred and five and the leadership sat together at breakfast eating in a strange mixture of solemn excitement. Rey didn't join them, opting to bring some toast and sweet melon to Rose since Finn came in to the mess hall groaning about another sleepless night with Rose retching in the fresher.

So she spent an hour with Rose before going back to her quarters to ready for their departure. Rey took her rings out of the box in her drawer and threaded the chain in her necklace through them, making sure everything was safely tucked into her breast band.

She pulled on her gray leggings from Mygeeto, a white tunic from Coruscant, and the green cowl that he gifted her during their courtship. A brown leather belt hung just above her hips and she clipped her saberstaff to the small of her back. Rey kept her hair loose, knowing that he loved to run his fingers through her locks, that now could easily cover her modest breasts.

The last items that she grabbed from her quarters was two of the stolen Jedi texts. Rey knew that the books would all eventually end up in Ben's library, but she didn't want to seem too kind or too eager to part with them. So she left the other six in her room and trotted happily down to the hangar.

They were taking her shuttle and Poe greeted her but shifted nervously, "Ready to go?" He asked the pointless question as Rey had already thrown her bag onboard and was settling into the pilot's seat.

"Are you?" She fired back with a raised eyebrow.

Poe just blew out a large breath and took the seat next to her as Major Connix and another veteran of Crait, Captain Torc settled into the jump seats in the main hold. The trip wouldn't be long, the two worlds slightly more than a sector away from each other, and Rey was thankful for the quiet, if not ominous mood that hung in the air.

Rey set them along the Myto's Arrow hyperspace lane but broke off at Anx Minor and was thankful that the shuttle Ben gifted her had an updated free space navigation system. There were no other obstacles to the ice-covered planet on the border of sector M5.

She had groaned after looking up the world of Akuria on her datapad after ended the comm with Ben two days prior. She hated the cold just as much as she hated sand, and she hoped that they wouldn't be meeting on the world itself.

Pulling out of hyperspace about five parsecs away from Akuria, Rey and Poe watched the pale blue and white planet come into view but immediately knew that they would not be going down to the surface.

Cutting across the frozen world was the unmistakable spear shape of a Star Destroyer, but as they approached, it became evident that it wasn't the normal _Resurgent-_ class Star Destroyer like the _Finalizer_ , as it was only about one-third the size.

"A _Venator-_ class?" Poe questioned just above a whisper.

"What's so special about it?" Rey was more versed in ships of the Old Empire as they were the ones she scavenged and also used to fly on the simulator, so she genuinely didn't know one Star Destroyer from the other.

" _Venator_ Destroyers were used by the Republic and were affectionally called Jedi Cruisers."

Rey's expression hung somewhere between surprise and amusement.

"I wonder what it means," Poe mused as he leaned forward from his chair to attempt to get a closer look at the ship.

Even though the ship was smaller than the First Order's normal fleet Destroyers, it was still heavily armed with turbolaser cannons, proton torpedos, and tractor beam projectors. The Cruiser was black with two long gray strips running the full one-thousand-one hundred and fifty-foot length of the Destroyer.

The comm on the shuttle crackled to life, "Unidentified vessel. You are about to enter restricted space. Please provide an access code or redirect your course."

"This is Rey, Jedi of the Resistance. Our access code is Zulu-Foxtrot-Niner-Kilo."

Three of the Resistance leaders on the shuttle were holding their breath to see if this would really work while Rey was too busy reaching out through the Force to feel the first tendrils of Ben's signature.

"Please proceed to Hangar B on the starboard side of the ship."

Rey warmed thinking about the last time she was in a Hangar B at the Kuat Drive Yards. That had been when she flew a real TIE for the first time, but most importantly, it was when she at agree to be Ben's wife and at that thought, she pressed her rings into her breastbone and felt the pulse of his power in the kyber.

"Here go nothing," Poe breathed as they approached the open hangar.

Reaching out and gripping his forearm, Rey gained his attention, "This isn't nothing…this is everything, Poe. We are about to make peace."

"I love your optimism kid."

Connix and Torc stood behind Rey and Poe as they came to land on the glossy black tarmac of the Destroyer's hangar and they looked out of the windscreen to the moderately sized group that had gathered to greet them. Rey was relieved to see Arlan standing front and center.

Gone were the guards black elite trooper armor and Arlan was dressed sharply in a collared wrap dress. The fabric appeared to be structured wool, with sleeves that came to her elbows and a hem that hit just below her knees. Her pale purple hair was pulled back tight and her rank was pinned perfectly on the left side of her chest.

Rey felt severely underdressed even in the finer clothing that both Arlan and Ben had picked out of for her. Her mind drifted to the emerald green velvet dress that hung in her closet on Coruscant. It's long sleeve, dipping neck line, and feathers embroidered in golden thread layered like armor on each shoulder.

Absentmindedly, she reached up to her head as if to adjust her crown, but she just swept back some flyaways before moving into the main hold and lowering the hull door.

Poe walked next to her, showing no fear but also knew that if things went south that Rey was their best chance at getting out alive. The Major and Captain followed a pace behind.

They came to stand before a strikingly beautiful woman who was flanked on each side by an elite trooper and Knight. Rey could sense, even with their helmets on that it was Tyris, Davin, Cale, and Bona, each having their own distinct signatures in the Force that she had come to know and love.

Arlan had to keep herself from curtseying before Rey, but instead just offered a respectful incline of her head, "Welcome to the _Serenity_. The Emperor is expecting you. Follow me please."

Giving his Jedi a sideways glance, Poe pulled a face as if he was not expecting such a civil reception. Rey just shifted the wrapped books that were clutched to her chest and started walk after Arlan.

The _Serenity_ was set up like many other Star Destroyers but on a smaller scale and they strutted down a few hallways, the troopers behind Arlan and the Knights following the group of Resistance fighters. Torc had a tight hold on the leather briefcase that held their treaty documents and conditions.

"You may leave your weapons here," Arlan gestured to a metal bin that was being held by another Knight. Rey had never seen this one before and only knew it wasn't Kaida as she had given birth to a healthy baby girl two weeks prior and suspected that her husband Volsh was with her. That left Cander and Lophen and she reached out with the Force to test the signature.

"Why do I feel like you are saying 'may' but we don't really have a choice here?" Poe asked placing his hand over his blaster but not unsnapping the strap that held his weapon in place.

Arlan just smiled gesturing to the bin again and watched at the three that were not her Empress started to unbuckle holsters and surrender their weapons. "Jedi?" It hurt her to address Rey as such, but she knew that appearance must be kept up.

Rey's attention was drawn away from staring down the Knight when Arlan spoke and with wide eyes she reached behind her and unclipped her saber, placing the two-foot long hilt across the top of the bin. She may be disarmed but she was hardly defenseless, as she still had the Force and for all intents, she had command of this entire ship if she so deems to out her true position.

They were ushered through some double doors and Rey was expecting a throne room but instead, it was a well furnished but nondescript conference room. The two New Order officers that were seated at the table stood as soon as the Resistance entered just as they have been instructed to by their Emperor, who Rey noticed was absent from the room.

The officers came around the table and allowed Arlan to make quick introductions, Warwick was a strategy advisor and Hollin was a lawyer. Rey liked that Ben had kept his negation party small, even though she had no doubt that he had the right to disregard any and all of their suggestions.

Setting the wrapped books onto the table, she felt him before she saw him and Tyris and Davin opened the doors for the Emperor to make a sweeping entrance. Rey had half expected him to be in his full Kylo Ren regalia, mask and all, but his black cape rested over a more Alderaanian styled gray coat and his face was bare and his crown of thorns rested upon his waves of ebony hair.

He stood with his hands clasped behind his back as the Knight fell to one knee while the advisors and Arlan bowed at the waist. After a beat, Arlan turned to Resistance ambassadors, "You may bow to your Emperor," with the same unquestioning tone that she used when ' _asking_ ' them to relinquish their weapons.

Connix and Torc gave their General a confused look and Poe's gaze turned hard as he bit at his lip at the blatant posturing move of Ren, but there were here for peace, they were here to sign a treaty and at the end of all of this, they were agreeing to Ren being their ruler. So with gritted teeth, Poe bent just slightly, inclining his head and looking at the large black boots that rooted Ren just a few paces before them.

"Jedi," Ren's questioning voice rang out and the bowed group looked up at to see an almost amused look on their Emperor's face.

"I will not bow to you," Rey said with squared shoulders. She could feel that this was a test to see if she had truly listened to her husband after her coronation that she would never bow to anyone, especially him.

"Can she do that?" Warwick asked Arlan in a hushed voice and the female trooper just shrugged while trying to keep the upturn of her lips at bay.

Ren finally let his arms hang at his side and when they saw that the saberstaff was gripped in his hand, Poe shot his arm out in a protective gesture across Rey's chest, but Rey did not flinch.

Holding the saber up as if he was inspecting it, Ren shot his gaze to Rey. "This is a beautiful weapon," he remarked before gripping each side, disengaging the locking mechanism and pulling the two hilts apart. He looked at the secret inscription there, rubbing the pads of his thumb over the stone embedded there to represent her pure soul and his bleeding heart.

Clipping the hilts back together, he used the Force to engage the blades, their blue light hissing and spitting in the large room. "You used the Skywalker kyber," he said in more mock intrigue as if he was seeing the weapon for the first time and had no hand in constructing it.

"It has always called to me," Rey answered simply.

"So it has," Ren remarked, deactivating the saber and took two long strides to stand before his beautifully stubborn wife. "Still so much to learn little Jedi," he smirked and using his left hand, he handed her back the saber.

Rey heated at seeing his wedding band sitting proudly around his finger and she wanted to reach out, grab his hand and place a kiss to the precious token, but instead, she held her hands out, palms up and allowed him to secure the saber back into her grip.

Looking up and breaking the heaviness that had settled over the room, Ren looked to Poe, "General, should we start?"

Poe just nodded dumbly, fully confused to what had just happened. Rey had crossed blades with Ren on multiple occasions and with her special powers she was possibly the only person that could defeat him and Ren had just purposely rearmed her. Back on the base, Rey had asked Ren to trust her, that this wasn't a trap, and perhaps that is what was happening here…the redeemed Darkersider was trusting the Jedi.

The New Order advisors took up the seats to the Emperor's right as the Resistance leadership sat at his left. Poe was closest to Ren and then Rey, Connix and Torc. Arlan sat at the table too, but on the far side of Warwick and Hollin. Rey wondered if Arlan had received a promotion, but also remembered asking for the guard to be put in the Empress' command and for a moment she wanted to think that maybe Arlan was there to be a representative for the position that Rey could not yet make public.

Rey felt a wave of confusion and…anger roll off Poe at the General's gaze was locked onto the table top in front of the Emperor, but as she skimmed his thought she sucked in a breath just as Poe spoke.

"Are you married?" Poe couldn't help but notice the gold band that was formed around dark blue iridescence stones that rested on Ren's third finger on his left hand.

"I am," Ren confirmed, twisting the ring, that he had not taken off since the day that Rey placed it there, around his finger. He felt the kyber that hung around Rey's neck pulse and he swore she shivered.

Poe seemed to be gobsmacked and disgusted at the same time. "That holonet was right," he mused, his focus still on Kylo's hand. "The mystery woman…"

When Ren didn't offer any other information, Poe met his gaze, "So where is this little wife of yours?"

Ben chuckled, "You think that I would bring her here? Into what could possibly be a trap and another attempt on my life?" He did very well not to slide his gaze to Rey as she was staring at him intently with such a sweet blush on her cheeks. "My Empress is safe and will be revealed to the galaxy in due time."

"But…" Poe started, still trying to fathom little Benny Solo from his childhood, the awkward and sullen teenager that became a mass murder and then unmatched Emperor of the galaxy…was married!

"I thought we came here to discuss peace and not my love life," he leaned closer to Poe and pointed one of his thick fingers to the table as to get the meeting back on task.

The mental image of Ren having a _love life_ left a bad taste in Poe's mouth and he finally shook out his head, ready to never think about Ren in any precarious situations ever again. "Yes…" he turned down the table to Torc who produced copies of the conditions of their treaty and he passed one to Ren and each of the advisors.

Just as Rey suspected, the conditions for abolishing slavery and trafficking of sentient beings, education, and agriculture reforms, as well as health care were all agree upon since they had been projects that she had been working with Ben on for months now.

To Poe's surprise, Ren didn't fight them on the free elections of local governments. "It won't be a Senate," the Emperor reminds them. "But there will be fair representation across the galaxy. Monarchies will be allowed to continue with the traditions of their people as long as sentient rights are not infringed upon."

Poe nodded before bringing up the next line, "Term limits."

"There will be limits of three years for the representatives…"

"I meant for you," Poe was brave and held Ren's gaze.

Sitting back in his chair, Kylo pressed his fingers together in front of his mouth, most likely to hide his smirk. "And that would be?"

Poe looked back at Rey now for some encouragement, but she just rolled her eyes and sighed, "Ten years."

This time Kylo did truly snort out a laugh before looking down and spinning his wedding band with his thumb, "I rule for the Force. Don't be mistaken in thinking that I am doing this for selfish ambition." His eyes shot up to Rey when he spoke next, "My wife and I have decided to rule until the galaxy is stable to be pass on to another. We have no intent for our children to have this burden."

Just like any time Ben talked about their future, their children, their family, Rey's body heated and she covered a moan with a cough and then turned to Poe, "I told you he wouldn't go for it. What did you expect from a grown toddler who isn't ready to give up his favorite toy?"

Kylo had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep himself from making a remake on Rey being his favorite toy and he would never tire of _playing_ with her, but he just raised an eyebrow at her insults before asking them to move on to the next topic.

The Emperor granted safe passage for any Resistance members who were not in leadership, which made Poe sit up straighter. "What do you mean, except leadership?"

"Some may need to be brought before a jury to answer for war crimes and treason."

Poe was outraged, standing so quickly that his chair nearly toppled backward as he slammed his hands down on the table, leaning towards Ren and pointing a finger in his face, "How dare you speak to me, of war crimes!"

At Poe's outburst, the Knights went to move to their Master's side but Ren held up his hand halting their advance and his cool gaze slid back to Dameron. "You are a murderer and a traitor and an appropriate punishment will be recommended for your crimes."

"Murderer," Poe spat. "And I suspect that you will also be called out for your many dark deeds."

All cockiness left Ren's expression and now his eyes were dark and hard, "Sit, General." When Dameron made no move to follow the order, Kylo continued, "Or shall I have to make you?"

Rey saw Ben's intent to use the Force to subdue Poe and she reached out her hand, touching her friend's forearm, "Poe, everything here is a negotiation. We are to hear his terms and state our own."

With gritted teeth, Poe retook his seat and only then did the Knights go back to their post by the door. "What about the Hosnian system? What about the village on Jakku?" Poe took a breath before striking a personal blow, "What about Han Solo?"

Kylo may as well have been wearing his mask because he usually over expressive face held firm, "Snoke and Hux are responsible for the Hosnian system and one of them has already met his fate. Hux is currently under investigation for his war crimes. The village on Jakku was orders, not a plan of my own making. And as for my father, I am serving penance through the Force and he has forgiven my sins against him."

"Sounds like a bunch of hypocritical bantha shit to me," Poe sneers.

"You, General personally planned an assassination attack, killing more than a dozen innocent people and causing millions of credits in damages. You have shot unarmed contractors of the New Order and pirated shipments of supplies meant for struggling worlds. Not to mention your grave miscalculation on Mairne."

"Mairne was not my idea. They were following their own orders."

"So if you can not be judged for the actions of others on Mairne then how is it that you hold me responsible for Hosnian?" Ren quipped and sat forward in his seat again, only allowing Dameron to think for a moment, "This war has been raging for too long, too much life has been lost, and you wouldn't understand because you are not sensitive to the Force, but I feel all of those deaths. I used to draw power from them, but now they just haunt me and this is how I am serving my sentence to the Force."

"It was war!" Poe tried to defend again. "You were the biggest fish. If we brought you down we would have brought down the First Order!"

"You would have brought forth an enemy far eviler than myself. I may have been Snoke's apprentice, but he groomed Hux to be even more ruthless and bring mass destruction to the galaxy. You may have been cutting the head off of a reek, but just to put a rancor on the throne."

Poe shivered at the thought of the red-haired General leading the galaxy into ruin. He doubted that Hux would have been willing to sit down with them and had a hunch that they would have already been long dead if Hux had his revenge for Starkiller and also claiming two of his limps in the assassination explosion.

He pondered for a long moment, thinking that if the positions were reversed he wouldn't question to sign Ren's execution order personally. The fact that both sides had committed such heinous acts in the name of peace and freedom was not now lost on him and the unauthorized and botched mission to Marine had shown him the horrible lengths people were willing to go for power and it had made him ill ever since.

So that was what prompted him to take notice of the galaxy around him and start to listen to the Jedi that was trying to lead him to the light all along. "I won't accept anything less than a fair trial," he finally conceded.

Kaydel sucked in a surprised breath from down the table and tried to retain her composure as tears welled in her eyes.

Ren nodded, "I would see no issue with appointing Rey to over see your tribunal."

Rey's attention snapped up and she and Poe spoke at the same time, "What?"

He knew that they had never spoken of this, but he was sure that his Empress would honor her vows as a sovereign and be just in any ruling and since she was steeped in the Light, she was far less likely to order sweeping executions. "She is a Jedi…is she not? Full of Light and I have faith that she will be honorable in any of her pursuits."

"Is she not to stand trial for Snoke's death?" Torc asked from the end of the table, having been told since Crait that Rey had a bounty on her head from the First Order.

"I killed my Master," Ren stated plainly.

"But the bounty?" Poe asked, thinking how worried he had been every time Rey went off world.

"Hux would have tried at any opportunity to murder me for literally cutting down Snoke." He almost looked embarrassed at the next admission, "So I told the First Order that she was the one who delivered the killing blow."

"You kept a bounty on her this entire time?" Poe's anger was starting to rise again.

"It did say to bring her in unharmed," Ren cut his eyes to Rey. "I never wanted any harm to come to her."

Poe shifted his gaze between the Emperor and his Jedi a few times thinking that he was missing something. "All those times you went off world and never had a run in with the First Order…" He looked back to Ren, "You were protecting her?"

"Of sorts," Kylo admitted. "I respect her. We are two of a dying breed and if I hope for the Force sensitive lines to carry on, I needed her alive and off in the galaxy, happy and making a family of her own."

"Okay," Rey fiercely cut in. "That is enough talking about me like I'm not here and also, you," she pointed at Kylo, "my desire to reproduce and _further my line_ , is none of your business."

He had to suppress a smile and tamper down the need to smirk, call her 'wife', and work towards furthering their line for the rest of the evening. But since they were clearly not alone, he just nodded and held up his hands in surrender. "My apologies. I won't mention it again."

"Make sure that you don't," Rey quipped wanting to get in the last word.

Shuffling his papers back in to order, Ren looked down at their list of points, "I think that we have made good headway towards ending this war. I will have my advisors look this over and then draw of a treaty which you will have ample time to review before signing."

He looked around at all the parties in the room, "I want this to be a just galaxy that we live in. I want the next generation to flourish and continue on with the ways of peace and not know the hardships and loss that we have all endured because of this war that was started by our parents."

"That is what we want also," Rey spoke for her side of the table and placed her hand once more on Poe's forearm hoping that he would get the hint that the negations were over for the day.

"What's that?" Ren asked as he nodded towards the package that still sitting at the opposite end of the table.

"Oh that," Rey said and pushed out of her chair.

Four other chairs scraped as Ben, his advisors, and Arlan all stood quickly, as what was accustom when their Empress went to move away from a seating arrangement. The three Resistance fighters all looked around incredulously, but then slowly rose to their feet as well.

Kylo walked around the table and stood in front of Rey, looking more at her beauty than the package. She held the simple cloth wrapped rectangle with one of her hands on the bottom and the other resting on the top, pushing it forward and presenting it to her Emperor. "Thank you for meeting with us. Thank you for trusting me and fostering peace."

When he took the package, he let his left-hand drift over hers under the gift and he watched her eyes come alight. ' _Thank you for believing in us_ ,' he sent through the bond before pulling at the string that held the cloth folds closed.

Letting the simple muslin fall away, he was met with the aged leather and binding of some of the first Jedi text. He remembered these from Rey's studies, but the fact that she was giving them to him, and so public spoke volumes.

"Thank you, but don't you think that you need these more than me?"

Rey finally smiled, "We could all use some more guidance to balance in the Force…" They seemed to gaze intently into each other for just the smallest second before Rey's expression relaxed from feral hunger for her husband to nonchalant apathy, "I've read them all anyways. Figured it was your turn to learn something of substance."

As she spoke his name, his real name, for the first time since boarding their interim flagship while the _Redemption_ was being completed, Ben needed to touch her, to kiss her, and he turned back to the group. "I have arranged a tour of my flagship and there are two chefs from my home world of Chandrila aboard that have prepared a meal that I hope you will stay and share with me as a show of good faith in these meetings."

Arlan didn't give them a chance to decline as she gestured towards the door, "Please follow me."

Rey and Ben still stood before each other and Poe turned back, "Are you coming, Rey?"

Ben looked up at Dameron, "I actually have a collection of other Jedi texts in the ship's library…" then he turned to Rey. "If you would be interested in seeing them?"

Her face lit up, but looking at old stuffy books was the furthest thing from her mind. Seeing her expression Poe tried once more, "Are you sure Rey?"

"I'll be fine. Kylo has already told us he has no desire to hurt me and I've kicked his ass twice already, so I'm sure I can do it again if needed."

This jab made Poe smirk and then he followed Connix and the advisors out of the room.

Without taking his gaze off Rey, Ben gave a simple command, "Guard the door. The Empress and I have an important matter to discuss."

* * *

 **AN: As we get nearing to the end of Part One of this story, I see a lot of you are getting excited about First Order of Business starting back up again. I am too! My head has been so full!**

 **Maybe I will try to write Part Two of this story in between because I will not be able to leave it like this...**

 **As always you all are so freaking amazing! Your comments freaking make my day and make me want to neglect my documenting for work and just write fluff! Keep them coming!**


	37. Part XXXVII

**Part XXXVII**

The bond did not open that night and while she sat alone in her quarters, Rey ran her fingers along the smooth edges of the folded parchment. Her wedding bands rested securely on the third finger of her left hand and she wondered if she would be able to rest at all with what the next day was bound to bring.

The entire base was asleep, and with light no brighter than a single candle cast around her room, Rey finally cracked the wax seal on the letter Davin gave her on Orinda. Ben's script is beautiful as always and she ghosted her fingers over the dark ink as she read his words.

 _My Dearest Wife,_

 _I was adrift in a sea of Darkness before you swept into my life, all beautifully bared teeth and brilliant blaster fire. But then there you were, a beacon in the night, an island of Serenity amongst endless torment. I no longer fear the future, growing old and death, because I know you will be there to safely guide me home._

 _Tomorrow we will embark on an endeavor that has not been accomplished for generations. You of the Light and myself rising from the Dark, have found balance and now we will bring peace to the galaxy and to our Empire._

 _Through all of this, through the battles and pain, loss and love, you must know that it was you, my sweet wife and brave Empress. You are the reason that peace will be made on this next sunrise. I am so proud to be yours and I wait with honored anticipation to tell the rest of the galaxy what you have done to save us all._

 _Your ever loving servant,_

 _Ben_

Rey finally found slumber with her husband's kyber and his loving words pressed to her chest. Some time in the night, she sensed his warmth, caught his smell on the recycled air of the underground base, felt his kiss upon her neck, but she woke alone, sighing contently at such a wonderful dream.

The sun rose over Dantooine on day five hundred and five and the leadership sat together at breakfast eating in a strange mixture of solemn excitement. Rey didn't join them, opting to bring some toast and sweet melon to Rose since Finn came in to the mess hall groaning about another sleepless night with Rose retching in the fresher.

So she spent an hour with Rose before going back to her quarters to ready for their departure. Rey took her rings out of the box in her drawer and threaded the chain in her necklace through them, making sure everything was safely tucked into her breast band.

She pulled on her gray leggings from Mygeeto, a white tunic from Coruscant, and the green cowl that he gifted her during their courtship. A brown leather belt hung just above her hips and she clipped her saberstaff to the small of her back. Rey kept her hair loose, knowing that he loved to run his fingers through her locks, that now could easily cover her modest breasts.

The last items that she grabbed from her quarters was two of the stolen Jedi texts. Rey knew that the books would all eventually end up in Ben's library, but she didn't want to seem too kind or too eager to part with them. So she left the other six in her room and trotted happily down to the hangar.

They were taking her shuttle and Poe greeted her but shifted nervously, "Ready to go?" He asked the pointless question as Rey had already thrown her bag onboard and was settling into the pilot's seat.

"Are you?" She fired back with a raised eyebrow.

Poe just blew out a large breath and took the seat next to her as Major Connix and another veteran of Crait, Captain Torc settled into the jump seats in the main hold. The trip wouldn't be long, the two worlds slightly more than a sector away from each other, and Rey was thankful for the quiet, if not ominous mood that hung in the air.

Rey set them along the Myto's Arrow hyperspace lane but broke off at Anx Minor and was thankful that the shuttle Ben gifted her had an updated free space navigation system. There were no other obstacles to the ice covered planet on the border of sector M5.

She had groaned after looking up the world of Akuria on her datapad after ended the comm with Ben two days prior. She hated the cold just as much as she hated sand, and she hoped that they wouldn't be meeting on the world itself.

Pulling out of hyperspace about five parsecs away from Akuria, Rey and Poe watched the pale blue and white planet come into view but immediately knew that they would not be going down to the surface.

Cutting across the frozen world was the unmistakable spear shape of a Star Destroyer, but as they approached, it became evident that it wasn't the normal _Resurgent-_ class Star Destroyer like the _Finalizer_ , as it was only about one-third the size.

"A _Venator-_ class?" Poe questioned just above a whisper.

"What's so special about it?" Rey was more versed in ships of the Old Empire as they were the ones she scavenged and also used to fly on the simulator, so she genuinely didn't know one Star Destroyer from the other.

" _Venator_ Destroyers were used by the Republic and were affectionally called Jedi Cruisers."

Rey's expression hung somewhere between surprise and amusement.

"I wonder what it means," Poe mused as he leaned forward from his chair to attempt to get a closer look at the ship.

Even though the ship was smaller than the First Order's normal fleet Destroyers, it was still heavily armed with turbolaser cannons, proton torpedos, and tractor beam projectors. The Cruiser was black with two long gray strips running the full one thousand-one hundred and fifty foot length of the Destroyer.

The comm on the shuttle crackled to life, "Unidentified vessel. You are about to enter restricted space. Please provide access code or redirect your course."

"This is Rey, Jedi of the Resistance. Our access code is Zulu-Foxtrot-Niner-Kilo."

Three of the Resistance leaders on the shuttle were holding their breath to see if this would really work while Rey was too busy reaching out through the Force to feel the first tendrils of Ben's signature.

"Please proceed to Hangar B on the starboard side of the ship."

Rey warmed thinking about the last time she was in a Hangar B at the Kuat Drive Yards. That had been when she flew a real TIE for the first time, but most importantly, it was when she at agree to be Ben's wife and at that thought, she pressed her rings into her breastbone and felt the pulse of his power in the kyber.

"Here go nothing," Poe breathed as they approached the open hangar.

Reaching out and gripping his forearm, Rey gained his attention, "This isn't nothing…this is everything Poe. We are about to make peace."

"I love your optimism kid."

Connix and Torc stood behind Rey and Poe as they came to land on the glossy black tarmac of the Destroyer's hangar and they looked out of the windscreen to the moderately sized group that had gathered to greet them. Rey was relieved to see Arlan standing front and center.

Gone were the guards black elite trooper armor and Arlan was dressed sharply in a collared wrap dress. The fabric appeared to be a structured wool with sleeves that came to her elbows and a hem that hit just below her knees. Her pale purple hair was pulled back tight and her rank was pinned perfectly on the left side of her chest.

Rey felt severely underdressed even in the finer clothing that both Arlan and Ben had picked out of for her. Her mind drifted to the emerald green velvet dress that hung in her closet on Coruscant. It's long sleeve, dipping neck line, and feathers embroidered in golden thread layered like armor on each shoulder.

Absentmindedly, she reached up to her head as if to adjust her crown, but she just swept back some flyaways before moving into the main hold and lowering the hull door.

Poe walked next to her, showing no fear but also knew that if things went south that Rey was their best chance at getting out alive. The Major and Captain followed a pace behind.

They came to stand before a strikingly beautiful woman who was flanked on each side by an elite trooper and Knight. Rey could sense, even with their helmets on that it was Tyris, Davin, Cale, and Bona, each having their own distinct signatures in the Force that she had come to know and love.

Arlan had to keep herself from curtseying before Rey, but instead just offered a respectful incline of her head, "Welcome to the _Serenity_. The Emperor is expecting you. Follow me please."

Giving his Jedi a sideways glance, Poe pulled a face as if he was not expecting such a civil reception. Rey just shifted the wrapped books that were clutched to her chest and started walk after Arlan.

The _Serenity_ was set up like many other Star Destroyers but on a smaller scale and they strutted down a few hallways, the troopers behind Arlan and the Knights following the group of Resistance fighters. Torc had a tight hold on the leather briefcase that held their treaty documents and conditions.

"You may leave your weapons here," Arlan gestured to a metal bin that was being held by another Knight. Rey had never seen this one before and only knew it wasn't Kaida as she had given birth to healthy baby girl two weeks prior and suspected that her husband Volsh was with her. That left Cander and Lophen and she reached out with the Force to test the signature.

"Why do I feel like you are saying 'may' but we don't really have a choice here?" Poe asked placing his hand over his blaster but not unsnapping the strap that held his weapon in place.

Arlan just smiled gesturing to the bin again and watched at the three that were not her Empress started to unbuckle holsters and surrender their weapons. "Jedi?" It hurt her to address Rey as such, but she knew that appearance must be kept up.

Rey's attention was drawn away from staring down the Knight when Arlan spoke and with wide eyes she reached behind her and unclipped her saber, placing the two foot long hilt across the top of the bin. She may be disarmed but she was hardly defenseless, as she still had the Force and for all intents, she had command of this entire ship if she so deem to out her true position.

They were ushered through some double doors and Rey was expecting a throne room but instead it was a well furnished but nondescript conference room. The two New Order officers that were seated at the table stood as soon as the Resistance entered just as they has been instructed to by their Emperor, who Rey noticed was absent from the room.

The officers came around the table and allowed Arlan to make quick introductions, Warwick was a strategy advisor and Hollin was a lawyer. Rey liked that Ben had kept his negation party small, even though she had no doubt that he had the right to disregard any and all of their suggestions.

Setting the wrapped books onto the table, she felt him before she saw him and Tyris and Davin opened the doors for the Emperor to make a sweeping entrance. Rey had half expected him to be in his full Kylo Ren regalia, mask and all, but his black cape rested over a more Alderaanian styled gray coat and his face was bare and his crown of thorns rested upon his waves of ebony hair.

He stood with his hands clasped behind his back as the Knight fell to one knee while the advisors and Arlan bowed at the waist. After a beat, Arlan turned to Resistance ambassadors, "You may bow to your Emperor," with the same unquestioning tone that she used when ' _asking_ ' them to relinquish their weapons.

Connix and Torc gave their General a confused look and Poe's gaze turned hard as he bit at his lip at the blatant posturing move of Ren, but there were here for peace, they were here to sign a treaty and at the end of all of this, they were agreeing to Ren being their ruler. So with gritted teeth, Poe bended just slightly, incline his head and looking at the large black boots that rooted Ren just a few paces before them.

"Jedi," Ren's questioning voice rang out and the bowed group looked up at to see an almost amused look on their Emperor's face.

"I will not bow to you," Rey said with squared shoulders. She could feel that this was a test to see if she had truly listened to her husband after her coronation that she would never bow to anyone, especially him.

"Can she do that?" Warwick asked Arlan in a hushed voice and the female trooper just shrugged while trying to keep the upturn of her lips at bay.

Ren finally let his arms hang at his side and when they saw that the saberstaff was gripped in his hand, Poe shot his arm out in a protective gesture across Rey's chest, but Rey did not flinch.

Holding the saber up as if he was inspecting it, Ren shot his gaze to Rey. "This is a beautiful weapon," he remarked before gripping each side, disengaging the locking mechanism and pulling the two hilts apart. He looked at the secret inscription there, rubbing the pads of his thumb over the stone embedded there to represent her pure soul and his bleeding heart.

Clipping the hilts back together, he used the Force to engage the blades, their blue light hissing and spitting in the large room. "You used the Skywalker kyber," he said in more mock intrigue as if he was seeing the weapon for the first time and had no hand in constructing it.

"It has always called to me," Rey answered simply.

"So it has," Ren remarked, deactivating the saber and took two long strides to stand before his beautifully stubborn wife. "Still so much to learn little Jedi," he smirked and using his left hand, he handed her back the saber.

Rey heated at seeing his wedding band sitting proudly around his finger and she wanted to reach out, grab his hand and place a kiss to the precious token, but instead she held her hands out, palms up and allowed him to secure the saber back into her grip.

Looking up and breaking the heaviness that had settled over the room, Ren looked to Poe, "General, should we start?"

Poe just nodded dumbly, fully confused to what had just happened. Rey had crossed blades with Ren on multiple occasions and with her special powers she was possibly the only person that could defeat him and Ren had just purposely rearmed her. Back on the base, Rey had asked Ren to trust her, that this wasn't a trap, and perhaps that is what was happening here…the possibly redeemed Darkersider was trusting the Jedi.

The New Order advisors took up the seats to the Emperor's right as the Resistance leadership sat at his left. Poe was closest to Ren and then Rey, Connix and Torc. Arlan sat at the table too, but on the far side of Warwick and Hollin. Rey wondered if Arlan had received a promotion, but also remembered asking for the guard to be put in the Empress' command and for a moment she wanted to think that maybe Arlan was there to be a representative for the position that Rey could not yet make public.

Rey felt a wave of confusion and…anger roll off Poe at the General's gaze was locked onto the table top in front of the Emperor, but as she skimmed his thought she sucked in a breath just as Poe spoke.

"Are you married?" Poe couldn't help but notice the gold band that was formed around dark blue iridescence stones that rested on Ren's third finger on his left hand.

"I am," Ren confirmed, twisting the ring, that he had not taken off since the day that Rey placed it there, around his finger. He felt the kyber that hung around Rey's neck pulse and he swore she shivered.

Poe seemed to be gobsmacked and disgusted at the same time. "That holonet was right," he mused, his focus still on Kylo's hand. "The mystery woman…"

When Ren didn't offer any other information, Poe met his gaze, "So where is this little wife of yours?"

Ben chuckled, "You think that I would bring her here? Into what could possibly be a trap and another attempt on my life?" He did very well not to slide his gaze to Rey as she was staring at him intently with such a sweet blush on her cheeks. "My Empress is safe and will be revealed to the galaxy in due time."

"But…" Poe started, still trying to fathom little Benny Solo from his childhood, the awkward and sullen teenager that became a mass murder and then unmatched Emperor of the galaxy…was married!

"I thought we came here to discuss peace and not my love life," he leaned closer to Poe and pointed one of his thick fingers to the table as to get the meeting back on task.

The mental image of Ren having a _love life_ left a bad taste in Poe's mouth and he finally shook out his head, ready to never think about Ren in any precarious situations ever again. "Yes…" he turned down the table to Torc who produced copies of the conditions of their treaty and he passed one to Ren and each of the advisors.

Just as Rey suspected, the conditions for abolishing slavery and trafficking of sentient beings, education and agriculture reforms, as well as health care were all agree upon since they had been projects that she had been working with Ben on for months now.

To Poe's surprise, Ren didn't fight them on the free elections of local governments. "It won't be a Senate," the Emperor reminds them. "But there will be fair representation across the galaxy. Monarchies will be allowed to continue with the traditions of their people as long as sentient rights are not infringed upon."

Poe nodded before bringing up the next line, "Term limits."

"There will be limits of three years for the representatives…"

"I meant for you," Poe was brave and held Ren's gaze.

Sitting back in his chair, Kylo pressed his fingers together in front of his mouth, most likely to hide his smirk. "And that would be?"

Poe looked back at Rey now for some encouragement, but she just rolled her eyes and sighed, "Ten years."

This time Kylo did truly snort out a laugh before looking down and spinning his wedding band with his thumb, "I rule for the Force. Don't be mistaken in thinking that I am doing this for selfish ambition." His eyes shot up to Rey when he spoke next, "My wife and I have decided to rule until the galaxy is stable to be pass on to another. We have no intent for our children to have this burden."

Just like any time Ben talked about their future, their children, their family, Rey's body heated and she covered a moan with a cough and then turned to Poe, "I told you he wouldn't go for it. What did you expect from a grown toddler who isn't ready to give up his favorite toy?"

Kylo had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep himself from making a remake on Rey being his favorite toy and he would never tire of _playing_ with her, but he just raised an eyebrow at her insults before asking them to move on to the next topic.

The Emperor granted safe passage for any Resistance members who were not in leadership, which made Poe sit up straighter. "What do you mean, except leadership?"

"Some may need to brought before a jury to answer for war crimes and treason."

Poe was outraged, standing so quickly that his chair nearly toppled backwards as he slammed his hands down on the table, leaning towards Ren and pointing a finger in his face, "How dare you speak to me of war crimes!"

At Poe's outburst, the Knights went to move to their Master's side but Ren held up his hand halting their advance and his cool gaze slid back to Dameron. "You are a murderer and a traitor and an appropriate punishment will be recommended for your crimes."

"Murderer," Poe spat. "And I suspect that you will also be called out for your many dark deeds."

All cockiness left Ren's expression and now his eyes were dark and hard, "Sit, General." When Dameron made no move to follow the order, Kylo continued, "Or shall I have to make you?"

Rey saw Ben's intent to use the Force to subdue Poe and she reached out her hand, touching her friend's forearm, "Poe, everything here is a negotiation. We are to hear his terms and state our own."

With gritted teeth, Poe retook his seat and only then did the Knights go back to their post by the door. "What about the Hosnian system? What about the village on Jakku?" Poe took a breath before striking a personal blow, "What about Han Solo?"

Kylo may as well have been wearing his mask because he usually over expressive face held firm, "Snoke and Hux are responsible for the Hosnian system and one of them has already met his fate. Hux is currently under investigation for his war crimes. The village on Jakku was orders, not a plan of my own making. And as for my father, I am serving penance through the Force and he has forgiven my sins against him."

"Sounds like a bunch of hypocritical bantha shit to me," Poe sneers.

"You, General personally planned an assassination attack, killing more than a dozen innocent people and causing millions of credits in damages. You have shot unarmed contractors of the New Order and pirated shipments of supplies meant for struggling worlds. Not to mention your grave miscalculation on Mairne."

"Mairne was not my idea. They were following their own orders."

"So if you can not be judged for the actions of others on Mairne then how is it that you hold me responsible for Hosnian?" Ren quipped and sat forward in his seat again, only allowing Dameron to think for a moment, "This war has been raging for too long, too much life has been lost, and you wouldn't understand because you are not sensitive to the Force, but I feel all of those deaths. I used to draw power from them, but now they just haunt me and this is how I am serving my sentence to the Force."

"It was war!" Poe tried to defend again. "You were the biggest fish. If we brought you down we would have brought down the First Order!"

"You would have brought forth an enemy far more evil than myself. I may have been Snoke's apprentice, but he groomed Hux to be even more ruthless and bring mass destruction to the galaxy. You may have been cutting the head off of a reek, but just to put a rancor on the throne."

Poe shivered at the thought of the red haired General leading the galaxy into ruin. He doubted that Hux would have been willing to sit down with them and had a hunch that they would have already been long dead if Hux had his revenge for Starkiller and also claiming two of his limps in the assassination explosion.

He pondered for a long moment, thinking that if the positions were reversed he wouldn't question to sign Ren's execution order personally. The fact that both sides had committed such heinous acts in the name of peace and freedom was not now lost on him and the unauthorized and botched mission to Marine had shown him the horrible lengths people were willing to go for power and it had made him ill ever since.

So that was what prompted him to take notice of the galaxy around him and start to listen to the Jedi that was trying to lead him to the light all along. "I won't accept anything less than a fair trial," he finally conceded.

Kaydel sucked in a surprised breath from down the table and tried to retain her composure as tears welled in her eyes.

Ren nodded, "I would see no issue with appointing Rey to over see your tribunal."

Rey's attention snapped up and her and Poe spoke at the same time, "What?"

He knew that they had never spoken of this, but he was sure that his Empress would honors her vows as a sovereign and be just in any ruling and since she was steeped in the Light, she was far less likely to order sweeping executions. "She is a Jedi…is she not? Full of Light and I have faith that she will be honorable in any of her pursuits."

"Is she not to stand trial for Snoke's death?" Torc asked from the end of the table, having been told since Crait that Rey had a bounty on her head from the First Order.

"I killed my Master," Ren stated plainly.

"But the bounty?" Poe asked, thinking how worried he had been every time Rey went off world.

"Hux would have tried at any opportunity to murder me for literally cutting down Snoke." He almost looked embarrassed at the next admission, "So I told the First Order that she was the one who delivered the killing blow."

"You kept a bounty on her this entire time?" Poe's anger was starting to rise again.

"It did say to bring her in unharmed," Ren cut his eyes to Rey. "I never wanted any harm to come to her."

Poe shifted his gaze between the Emperor and his Jedi a few times thinking that he was missing something. "All those times you went off world and never had a run in with the First Order…" He looked back to Ren, "You were protecting her?"

"Of sorts," Kylo admitted. "I respect her. We are two of a dying breed and if I hope for the Force sensitive lines to carry on, I needed her alive and off in the galaxy, happy and making a family of her own."

"Okay," Rey fiercely cut in. "That is enough talking about me like I'm not here and also, you," she pointed at Kylo, "my desire to reproduce and _further my line_ , is none of your business."

He had to suppress a smile and tamper down the need to smirk, call her 'wife', and work towards furthering their line for the rest of the evening. But since they were clearly not alone, he just nodded and held up his hands in surrender. "My apologies. I won't mention it again."

"Make sure that you don't," Rey quipped wanting to get in the last word.

Shuffling his papers back in to order, Ren looked down at their list of points, "I think that we have made good headway towards ending this war. I will have my advisors look this over and then draw of a treaty which you will have ample time to review before signing."

He looked around at all the parties in the room, "I want this to be a just galaxy that we live in. I want the next generation to flourish and continue on with the ways of peace and not know the hardships and loss that we have all endured because of this war that was started by our parents."

"That is what we want also," Rey spoke for her side of the table and placed her hand once more on Poe's forearm hoping that he would get the hint that the negations were over for the day.

"What's that?" Ren asked as he nodded towards the package that still sitting at the opposite end of the table.

"Oh that," Rey said and pushed out of her chair.

Four other chairs scraped as Ben, his advisors, and Arlan all stood quickly, as what was accustom when their Empress went to move away from a seating arrangement. The three Resistance fighters all looked around incredulously, but then slowly rose to their feet as well.

Kylo walked around the table and stood in front of Rey, looking more at her beauty than the package. She held the simple cloth wrapped rectangle with one of her hands on the bottom and the other resting on the top, pushing it forward and presenting it to her Emperor. "Thank you for meeting with us. Thank you for trusting me and fostering peace."

When he took the package, he let his left hand drift over hers under the gift and he watched her eyes come alight. ' _Thank you for believing in us_ ,' he sent through the bond before pulling at the string that held the cloth folds closed.

Letting the simple muslin fall away, he was met with the aged leather and binding of some of the first Jedi text. He remembered these from Rey's studies, but the fact that she was giving them to him, and so public spoke volumes.

"Thank you, but don't you think that you need these more than me?"

Rey finally smiled, "We could all use some more guidance to balance in the Force…" They seemed to gaze intently into each other for just the smallest second before Rey's expression relaxed from feral hunger for her husband to nonchalant apathy, "I've read them all anyways. Figured it was your turn to learn something of substance."

As she spoke his name, is real name, for the first time since boarding their interim flagship while the _Redemption_ was being completed, Ben needed to touch her, to kiss her, and he turned back to the group. "I have arranged a tour of my flagship and there are two chefs from my home world of Chandrila aboard that have prepared a meal that I hope you will stay and share with me as a show of good faith in these meetings."

Arlan didn't give them a chance to decline as she gestured towards the door, "Please follow me."

Rey and Ben still stood before each other and Poe turned back, "Are you coming Rey?"

Ben looked up at Dameron, "I actually have a collection of other Jedi texts in the ships library…" then he turned to Rey. "If you would be interested in seeing them?"

Her face lit up, but looking at old stuffy books was the furthest thing from her mind. Seeing her expression Poe tried once more, "Are you sure Rey?"

"I'll be fine. Kylo has already told us he has no desire to hurt me and I've kicked his ass twice already, so I'm sure I can do it again if needed."

This jab made Poe smirk and then he followed Connix and the advisors out of the room.

Without taking his gaze off Rey, Ben gave a simple command, "Guard the door. The Empress and I have an important matter to discuss."

* * *

 **AN: As we get nearing to the end of Part One of this story, I see a lot of you are getting excited about First Order of Business starting back up again. I am too! My head has been so full!**

 **Maybe I will try to write Part Two of this story in between because I will not be able to leave it like this...**

 **As always you all are so freaking amazing! Your comments freaking make my day and make me want to neglect my documenting for work and just write fluff! Keep them coming!**


	38. Part XXXVIII

**Part XXXVIII**

After the doors close, the room falls into silence, almost to the point where they can hear their heavy breaths echoing off the polished walls. Their gaze roams over the other's face, as if they had forgotten all of their features, the cluster of beauty marks across his face or the small scar on her right cheek, the way his eyes turn the color of Chandrilan cognac when lighted just the right way and how her skin flushes under his intense survey.

Ben was the first to break their trance. "I need to touch you," he voice came out in an exhale of breath, pleading and desperate.

Rey didn't wait to give him permission as she reached up, cupping his face in her small palms and pulling his lips towards hers. His hands were warm and all-encompassing, sliding against her face, her ribs, her hips…

They had never physically been together while her friends from the other side of her life were so close. Ben had popped in and out of their bond plenty of times while Rey was on the base, many times he had been privy to the one-sided conversations with Rose. But with Poe, Connix, and Torc on the same ship, there seemed to be a static buzz between Rey and Ben with just the slight excitement of being caught.

"Missed you," Rey panted into their kiss as she gripped his wrist and seated his hand between her thighs, wordlessly begging for his touch _there_.

Pulling away from her lips with a smile, he cupped her sex through her pants and she moaned while rolling her hips into the heel of his palm. "I thought I had no business being involved with the furthering of your line."

He rubbed his hand between her legs and created the most wonderful friction but then he pulled away, a satisfied but playful expression his face. Rey whimpered but then narrowed her eyes at him, knowing that he was being glib and coy. As she took a step back from him, she wondered if he could take as good as he was giving.

She walked backward until she was just out of reach and could feel the edge of the dark wood table hit her rear. "Why should you be concerned with my sex life?" Rey pulled the green cowl over her head as she spoke before working at her saber holster and next to the ties of her warp tunic. "You…the Emperor of the entire galaxy could have any woman he wants…" She kicked off her boots and slid her tunic off her shoulders.

Ben felt his mouth go dry and when he swallowed it was like trying to get down a lump of sand, but he held firm, loving the little show his wife was putting on for him. He dearly needed to adjust his hardening length, but he dare not move for fear of breaking their game.

Pulling at the buttons of her trousers, Rey looked down at her toned abdomen, "I'm merely a lowly scavenger from Jakku." Pushing down, she was thankful that the pants were loose enough to easily fall in a puddle at her feet. She watched his Adam's apple bob as she started to unwrap her breast band and could have sworn she heard him let out his own whimper when he saw her rings hanging proudly between her breasts.

"What could an insignificant creature, such as myself possibly offer his Imperial Majesty?" Her forefingers slid into the waistband of her panties and they too glided effortlessly down her thighs.

With balled fists, Ben was having to almost physically restrain himself with the Force to keep from lunging towards her and he had to bite at his tongue to keep from chastising her for such self-loathing speech, reminding himself that she was just toying with him in a most delicious way. When she reached her hands back and scooted her bottom on to the table top Ben almost swayed with want and had to remember to not stand with his knees locked in his ramrod posture.

Seated on the table, she pulled one of her legs up, placing her heel on the edge of the dark wood and let her legs fall apart, spreading herself for her husband. Tilting her head innocently and running her fingers along the chain that held her rings, Rey gave him her best doe-eyed look, "Perhaps the Emperor would like to show a poor desert rat how to preserve her line in the Force…"

His cape, belt, saber included, and coat were already littering the floor by the time he got to her, his right hand cupped her face as his left hand covered her breast, his thumb reaching out and tangling with the gold that hung cooly against her sternum. Full lips sucked the mews and sighs from her throat as he basked in her perfect light.

Rey was pulling at the shirt that was tucked into his trousers, needing to feel his warm skin as it rippled over the muscles at his ribs, his chest heaved and his stomach clenched with her fiery touch. She played his body like a finely tuned instrument, stroking the pad of her thumb along each divot of his eight-pack. She moaned helplessly into their kiss at the realization that her husband was absolutely shredded.

Taking the crown from his head, Ben set it upon the table before trailing his lips down the column of her throat and savored the taste of her. He licked at her nipples, sucking and biting at the supple flash before running kisses down her trembling stomach. Rey was already a moaning and keening mess at his efforts but he needed more. "I want you to scream my name atop the very place we are fostering peace."

Ben had spoken his demanding words into the soft skin between the peaks of her hip bones and a violent shiver racked Rey's body. Before she could steady herself, his full lips were laying a breathtaking assault on her clit.

He licked her cunt until she did indeed cry out his name, along with a filthy string of profanities grunted in Basic. Cords of her slick ran down the cradle of her legs and embarrassingly stained the table top. The pale skin around his mouth was rubbed red with the intense fucking he just gave her with his lips and tongue.

While his mouth was busy bringing his wife fully into her light, his hands had been working at the straps of his boots and as he stood, he kicked out of them unceremoniously, hooking his forefingers into his socks around his claves and pulling them off in quick secession.

His bare feet flexed on the polished floor of the conference room as he looked down upon his glowing wife as she lay glistening and spent on the very table where he would watch the Resistance fall, once and for all, in the name of peace. Ben appraised her heaving breasts and the rings that rested in the divot at the base of her throat with wanting hunger.

In a sweeping move, Ben scooped Rey up off the table, tossing her easily over his left shoulder, the one that held the pockmarks from her stabbing saber blow on Starkiller, and gathered the Jedi texts in his free hand that wasn't gripping around the back of his wife's thighs.

"Ben," she squealed with a happy laugh. "Where are you taking me?"

He splayed his large hand along her creamy leg and squeezed at the lean muscle under soft skin. "I promised you a tour of the library."

Much to her chagrin, Ben walked to a door on the right side of the room and with a swooshing sound and a rush of cold air on her backside, Rey realized that they had to cross a hallway to get to the said library. Thankfully through the Force, she could tell that there weren't any other souls around, but she balked at the audacity of her husband strutting around his ship with his naked wife over his shoulder like some lust drunk barbarian.

What was even more embarrassing was that she had to cross her ankles and squeeze her thighs together a the thought of him marching her to bridge, commanding his men to ' _Get out_ ' in that deep, non-compromising tone that seemed to make her insides burn. In the abandoned command tower he would drape her before the stars and claim her on their interim flagship, much like he had in the _Inflictor_ on Jakku.

But the room they entered was not the bustling hub of the ship of her fantasies, rather a quiet corner that she doubted many ventured into. As they crossed the threshold, dim lights came up and the same varnished wood and old book smell of Ben's office back on Coruscant overloaded her senses and for a moment she could almost believe that she was _home_.

Instead of laying her across another table or throwing her into one of the padded armchairs that dotted the room, Ben set her on her own feet. The carpet was plush against their gripping toes and it gave the room a softness that Rey didn't think could be achieved in a Destroyer. She watched him pad towards the far end of the room and slid the texts on to a shelf with other ancient looking books and Rey wondered what those pages contained, but she was also unapologetically distracted by the sway of Ben's shoulders and the definition of the muscles that stretched across his back.

She had ceased being bashful around Ben and stood just as confidently nude as she did draped in jewels before the Queen of Naboo. So when she walked up behind him, running her hands up his spine, she had nothing but hunger on her expression. As he turned to face her, Rey continued her trailing fingers down the planes of his abdomen as she sank to her knees.

"I suspect this is the only time you will allow me to kneel before you," Rey said with a smirk as she popped the buttons of his pant closer and slid the cool leather down his muscular thighs.

He was ready for her, his arousal had waited patiently for Ben to bring his wife to climax first and then get her into a more intimate environment before it begged for attention. "Please excuse my selfishness in this one act," he asked in a coo as he cupped her cheek but also sucked in a sharp breath as her warm hand came up to wrap around his shaft.

Reaching behind him, Ben gripped onto the bookcase at his back and let his head drift until it rested upon a higher shelf. Shifting out of his pants that were pooled around his ankles, he widened his stance so that Rey's face was more level with his needy cock. Each time he had to accommodate for her size, he was reminded just how small his little woman was and he still marveled that he didn't rip her in two each time they made love.

Her mouth was even hotter than her fist that still pumped at the base of him that wouldn't fit into the back of her throat. Rolling his head forward, Ben peeked down at her and groaned at the sight but even more he imagined Rey in an emerald velvet gown, her wedding set sparkling on her finger, her crown set her head, as she bobbed in his lap and he sat upon his throne.

In this waking dream, she would bring him to orgasm, swallowing down every drop that he gave her. She would easily right his clothing then take the seat next to him, straightening her posture and calling to the guards to let in the audience for the day as if she had just not had him a groaning mess seconds before. His Empress would give him a coy smile, wiping the last drop of him from her pink lips, lick her finger, moan at this taste before giving him a wink and turning to the dignitaries that were filling the throne room.

Coming back to the present, he gasped at her quick tempo and sincerely believed that this woman would be the death of him. Needing a warmth that he knew could only be achieved by being completely seated within her, Ben pulled back his hips, and almost felt bad for the disappointed groan that echoed out of her now empty throat. But he ducked down, lifting her up by gripping under her arms and when she wrapped her legs around his waist, he was able to adjust his arms to cradle her rear as his other hand bushed the stray hairs back from her face before capturing her lips.

Advancing forward, he walked them through a low arch and into a secluded nook off the main room of the library. As with everything other change and decision he has made since becoming Emperor, he remodeled this ship with his Empress in mind. While they were waiting for the _Redemption_ to be completed, he wanted her to feel just as much at home on the _Serenity_ as she did on Coruscant or on Naboo.

While lavishing her face and neck with kisses, he laid her down upon a tufted velvet chaise that was set alongside a floor to ceiling transparisteel viewport. He had envisioned walking into this room during their tour of their galaxy and seeing her sitting in this very spot reading with a backdrop of stars, even though in his eyes, she would always burn brighter than them all.

So with a galaxy of twinkling stars and the blue and white orb of Akuria as their audience, Ben made slow and tender love to his wife. He absorbed each of her gasps and mews as he rocked forward at a steady pace. Rey's knees gripped around his hips attempting to draw him closer and her fingernails dug into his flanks as she felt the muscles of his back flex with each thrust.

Pulling her in close, Ben rested his forehead against hers and the bond was open, their signatures weaving together and unexpectedly, he felt even more connected to Rey in this moment. Before in the bond, their presence in the Force would come together, but they were still two very distinct entities. Now, as she started to beg for another release and while his pleasure started to coil in response to her body's needy pull for his spend, there seemed to be another part of their signatures, parts of both of their essences that was solidified in the between, completely, beautifully, and perfectly gray.

 _Balance_ , Ben thought to himself, _the future the Force had promised him all those months ago on Ahch-To_ , and he passed his unadulterated affection through the bond to Rey and with a few more rolling thrust of his hips she was clamping down and falling apart below him. Riding her waves, he grunted against her lips and he followed her into bliss.

They held each other for a long while, watching the stars and Ben pointed out Graviex Med, Horuz, Kesmere, and even Dantooine in the western sky. He almost thought about sending a comm up to the bridge and having them turn the ship so they could watch Coruscant pulse brilliantly from within the Core.

With a sorrowful sigh, Rey started to sit up, "Poe is starting to get worried." She could feel his unease through the Force, he was starting to question why she had not met back up with them yet.

Ben hummed against her skin at the base of her throat and fingered the rings that hung between her breast. "Is he worried that I have gone back on my word and thrown you in a cell?"

She giggled, "That and you seducing me to the Darkside."

He kissed her upturned lips and met her gaze. "And are my persuasion techniques effective?" As he asked, Ben reached between them, running his fingers through her dripping folds, gathering his seed and pushing it back inside of her where it belonged.

Slightly sore from his relentless desire for her, Rey moaned at the ache of the stretch but also the pang of lust that yearned to be filled by him again. She almost wanted to be taken prisoner, if only it meant that she would never have to leave him, but they were so close to everything they had been working for, sacrificing for, that she knew she could withstand twenty-five more days of separation.

So she just mewed and rolled her hips so that his fingers slid deeper inside her before kissing his lips. "Ben, we can't," her words were in direct contrast to what her body was asking for, but as she felt another wave of worry through the Force she knew that their time together was over. "We have to go before they come looking for me."

Ben wanted to say to hell with all of them, let them come witness the awe-inspiring love that they had found and nurtured into an Empire of amity and prosperity. Let them see how brightly he could make Rey's light shine and how he bowed only to her, how she was the guiding force of all the change in the galaxy and she, Empress of the People, was who would ensure peace everlasting.

But reluctantly Ben stood from the chaise and pulled her along with him, back through the arch and into the main library. Their clothing from the conference room was neatly folded and laid upon a table top and Rey was slightly mortified at the thought of one of the guards, or Marker forbid, a Knight having to pick up and fold her knickers.

Nonetheless, they both dressed and Rey looked at Ben's crown that was laid out next to their sabers before picking it up and turning it in her hands. "Why the thorns?" She asked, pushing the pad of her thumb against one of the obsidian spikes.

"To remind myself to never get comfortable wearing it. To remember my past sins, the pain I have caused, and the pain those acts inflict in return. It is a crown of atonement, not of power."

Rey nodded in understanding, knowing Ben's mind almost as well as she knew her own, and she wondered if each thorn amounted to a past dark deed, for there were so many thorns and her heart hurt for the burden of Snoke's sinister teachings that would forever tarnish her husband's heart. "I wish I could absolve you of your sins," she said feeling the full weight of the crown on her palms.

"You have healed me in more ways than I could ever express," he stroked her cheek and as he spoke, Ben sank down to kneel in front of her.

"Emperor," Rey addressed as she ran her fingers through his love mussed hair before placing the crown of thorns back upon his head.

"Empress," Ben looked up at her with such love and admiration.

Reaching down and gripping his left hand as he stood, Rey kissed his palm, "Husband."

Moving his left hand away from her lips, Ben pressed his large palm over the rings that now hung securely under her breast band and reaching out with the Force, he made his kyber pulse. "Wife," he spoke softly before pressing his worn lips to hers.

Their kiss was fleeting and he pressed his forehead to hers once more before taking her hand, "I have one more thing to show you."

Rey followed him out of the library and back into the conference room where there were two large pieces of parchment laid out upon the table. "What are these?"

Ben touched one of the documents, which was written on hand-pressed paper and scripted in black and gold ink. "We were wed before and in the Force but by signing this it will be seen as valid by law as well."

Nodding, Rey remembered Rose talking about filing a marriage license on Coruscant while she and Finn were on their honeymoon. "And this one?" She reached out to touch the other paper and studied the writing, almost wondered if Ben had penned them himself.

"Your Imperial Declaration, that names you Empress of the New Order, my equal in law and rule." He watched her look back down on the document, glancing over the words written in his own stylized calligraphy, and he swallowed in anticipation. Rey had taken her vows in the First Jedi Temple on Ahch-To, but this declaration would solidify her place in history as his Empress, the tamer of Kylo Ren, and the designer of peace.

Rey had never had to sign her name to anything before, and she would never admit it, but she had secretly been practicing her signature so that she wouldn't look like an illiterate fool when meeting with councils and committees as Empress. So without a second thought, Rey picked up the fountain pen that rested next to the documents and first signed the marriage certificate, then the acknowledgment of her intent to rule through her inner Light, with benevolence, and at her Emperor's side.

Walking up behind her, Ben wrapped his arms around her middle and rested his chin on the top of her head, and the moment he looked down at the documents he was glad for the support for he felt as if his knees were going to buckle out from under him.

There, in black ink, as solid as she was under his embrace, was the perfectly scripted name of her choice.

 _Rey Solo-Ren_

They never came to a conclusion of the name she would take, as Ben didn't care as long as she was his for the rest of their days, but he was overrun with emotion as he saw what she had selected. He would never tire of being surprised or humbled by this woman, and he wanted to weep at her acceptance of both sides of his soul. She was laying claim to both the Light and Dark sides of him, his past and his present, and in this, agreeing to be his future.

Turning her in his arms he couldn't help but kiss her again, "I love you more than the air that sustains my unworthy existence."

Rey was ready to chastise him for ever thinking that he was undeserving of this life with her…when there was a knock at the door and Alister poked his head into the room. "Sorry for the intrusion, but the Resistance leaders are ready to depart and are eager to see that the Empress is safe."

Looking up at her husband, her other half in life and in the Force, Rey cupped his right cheek, "The next time we meet here it will be to sign a treaty for peace and to start our lives together."

"For eternity and beyond," Ben whispered down upon her light and hopeful expression as he planted one more kiss upon her lips before they had to right themselves for the public opinion that they were amicable foes from different sides of the war and of the Force.

Walking down the halls of the _Serenity_ towards Hangar B, Ben couldn't help himself and kept ghosting his bare fingers along the small of her back, or tracing the heel of her palm. Rey playfully swatted at him, whispering for him to behave himself, which of course he did not, and in spite of her attempts to maintain her neutral ambivalence towards him, he pulled her into a deserted hallway just before they entered the hangar and pressed her to the wall, kissing her senseless.

"You are bold, Emperor," she spoke in panting breaths.

Pressing his hips into her lower abdomen he showed her just how bold he was willing to be and he drew in the scent of her before groaning, "Give me a reason to not call in your bounty and keep you here with me."

Rey lightly laughed and stroked at his hair, careful to avoid his crown. "Because you love me and know that taking me captive would just start this war all over again."

"Why are you always right?" He practically pouted like a giant six-foot-two toddler, which Rey found oddly endearing.

"Because my decision making doesn't take place in my pants," she quips back before palming his growing erection.

Growling while taking her wrists in his large hand, he pinned her arms above her head and cupped her jaw, "Death of me," he breathed out the accusation.

"And what a glorious passing into the Force it would be," she smirked back then received another passion filled kiss.

"Emperor, Empress," Arlan's soft voice came from the end of the hall and gained both of their attention. "General Dameron is threatening to come and retrieve Rey himself."

"I'd like to see him try," Ben snorted before quickly kissing Rey once more and then releasing her from his hold. Only when his guard turned back down the hall did he adjust the _issue_ in his pants that he would have to resolve once Rey was off.

When they entered the hangar, Poe practically stomped over to them, "Rey…what the hell? Where have you been?"

Rolling her eyes, Rey attempted to exhibit aloof mannerisms. "In the library. Ben has a wonderful collection of books that catalog the Jedi going back millennia."

Poe gave her an incredulous and narrow-eyed look, "I didn't know that _books_ could make someone look so flush."

Maker, Rey could only imagine what she looked like, brought to orgasm with Ben's skillful mouth and then softly fucked into a sweaty and keeling mess, before being cooed sweet nothings and then pinned to a wall for good measure. She slid a glance to her husband and he just gave her the Solo smirk and a raised eyebrow while sending, ' _Saber or sex_ ' across the bond.

Her mouth fell into an 'O' shape and then she blurted out, "Saber!"

Now Poe was looking at her as if she had gone mad, "Sabers…"

"Yes," Rey said, nodding her head to get her point across. "It had been so long since I was able to properly duel with someone, so the Emperor graciously offered his services."

One of the Knights standing off to the side coughed behind his mask and Rey knew it was Cale trying to stifle a laugh at her poor excuses. Rey almost wished she had her own mask to hide her flaming cheeks behind.

' _You could always use the Force to ebb his doubt_ ,' Ben silently spoke to her through the Force.

Rey's scornful gaze cut from Cale to Ben, and she decided to stop digger herself in deeper and turned to her husband, "Thank you, Emperor, for the educational conversation and critique on my forms." She was tempted to bow, even give the slightest incline of her head, but remained steadfast.

"The _pleasure_ was all mine," Ren replied, his lips twitching at his own joke and unlike his wife, the Emperor quirked his head to the side and lowed his gaze to the floor for just a moment in the only public acknowledgment he could provide to show his admiration towards the beautiful woman standing before him.

Outwardly, the only indication that it was physically and emotionally paining her to leave was how her brows pinched together for just a moment before she turned and walked onto her shuttle without a glance back.

Ben reaches out and gave her a final caress through the Force which she returned and they both prayed for a bond opening later that night. But the Emperor still had a suspicious potential ally to deal with. "General," he addressed before holding out his hand. Slightly reluctant, Poe accepted the handshake.

"Thank you for helping to bring a peaceful resolution to this conflict." Ben placed his left palm on top of their clasped hands, perhaps smugly showing off his wedding band again before releasing his grasp on the Resistance General. "I will have my officers send over a draft of the treaty within the week for you to look over and request any revisions. We will meet back here in three weeks time to sign. It will be broadcasted over holo so the entire galaxy will know that peace has finally been made a reality."

Poe was still not completely convinced that this wasn't some kind of Darksided ploy, so he took a half step forward, effectively invading the Emperor's personal space, "Why are you doing this Ren…really?"

Ben's expression held no ill intent and he almost felt light at being able to relieve Dameron of any remaining doubts. "Once I was freed of both my Masters, I became only a slave to the Force, ' _and my wife_ ' he spoke the last part within his mind. "I only exist to appease the Force, as it works within and through me. It is calling for peace and I am at its mercy to obey."

Kylo's explanation almost made Poe's head hurt and he mused that he would never entirely understand all this Force mumbo jumbo, but as Leia had always instilled in him, and perhaps also in her son, actions speak louder than words, and Ren was showing in spades that he and the galaxy were ready for change.

"And if the Force _tells_ you to go Dark again?" Poe inquired.

The Emperor smile…actually smiled down at the General before flicking his gaze to the shuttle, "There will always be an incorrigible little Jedi there to beat me back into my place."

Something in Poe's brain clicked, why Ren never put a kill order on Rey, why he swore to never harm her, why Kylo respected her and almost seemed to…admire her. Rey wasn't just the beacon of hope the for Resistance, for peace…she was the neutralizing presence in the Force that would keep Ren's Darkness at bay.

The realization was comically evident across Poe's expression as he quickly shifted his gaze from the shuttle where Rey was starting the pre-flight checks to the still smirking face of Kylo Ren. Bending slightly to accommodate for the half a foot that Ren had on the General, Kylo held his finger to his lips and mockingly made a shushing sound. "I suggest you keep this to yourself General…wouldn't want the entire galaxy knowing my weakness for there is still evil out there that would wish to see us plagued by an endless war."

His mother's warning still prickled at the back of Ben's mind as he watched Dameron dumbly nod before couching, straightening his posture and bowing his head. "I will review the treaty with my leadership and be back here in three weeks time."

Kylo nodded and watched Poe turn and take one step towards the shuttle before he rounded again, "One more thing…" Poe paced into Ren's personal space again and spoke lowly. "If you go Dark again and Rey has to come to kick your ass and you hurt even a hair on her head…"

Ben wanted to posture up on Poe, sneer down on him and ask what the tiny man with a large ego was going to do about it, but he would play nice, knowing that once Poe served out whatever sentence Rey saw fit for the General's war crimes, that she would still want to be part of Poe's life. So he relented, "If she ever has the opportunity to, as you so graciously put it, kick my ass, I ardently hope that it is because she allows me to help her train in the Force and not in a battle between Light and Dark."

Poe gave him one last narrow-eyed look before he took a half step back, "I'm glad we understand each other."

"Categorically," Ren replied with a partial smirk, enjoying putting his Core education to good use in confusing the poor General.

But Poe wore his own smirk as he tipped his chin up at Ren, walking backward as he spoke, "I just hope your wife isn't the jealous type Solo, cause you were never good at hiding your emotions."

Ben couldn't even be upset that his affection for Rey was apparently written across his face and he begrudgingly gave a point to Dameron for the astute observation. It was moments like this that made him remember a time, long ago, when he used to consider Poe a friend.

* * *

 **AN: I hope to wrap this up in the next two or three chapters, but it almost hurts my heart to bring this story to a close, I have become quite fond of it. Brainstorming and planning for the next installment has already started but it might be slower coming out since my Muse has demanded I go back to working on FOoB.**

 **So I guess what I want to say is, no matter what happens in the next few chapters, I want to thank each and every one of you for coming along for this ride with me and giving so much love and support. I write because I love the relationship between Rey and Ben, but also because you all have encouraged me along the way.**


	39. Part XXXIX

**Part XXXIX**

They lifted off safely from the _Serenity_ and Rey felt Ben securely in their bond until she engaged the hyperdrive and they were racing across free space back towards Dantooine. She could feel Poe's smugness through the Force and she held her curiosity at bay for about an hour before his continuous snickering to himself and amused sighed got to her. "What is wrong with you?" She asked with annoyance.

"It's not what's wrong with me…it's what's wrong with Kylo Ren," Poe voice was almost sing-song.

"What the hell is wrong with Kylo Ren?" Rey shot her co-pilot a dumbfounded look.

Poe let out a full belly laugh and was only able to get out simple words through his hysterics, "He likes you!"

Rey scoffs, "He tolerates me at best."

"No," Poe gripped at his sides and was as serious as he could be while wiping tears from his eyes, "he _like_ , likes you."

"Bantha shit," Rey keeps her expression defensive, but internally she was sending off alarm bells. But Poe kept laughing at her apparent disgusted denial of such accusations. "We are never to speak of this again," she gave him a pointed stare. "Understood?"

"Sure _Rey_ …anything you say _Rey_ …I'll show you the Force _Rey_ …"

Poe made kissy faces at her and she was half tempted to show _him_ some Force and knock him out with it. With one more cutting gaze, he turned back to look out of the windscreen and continued to chuckle to himself for the remainder of their trip.

They decided to not reveal the prospect of a treaty to the Resistance fighter until they had the chance to look at the final document. If the plan was compromised, Poe still wanted some semblance of an army to defend his beliefs with.

True to his word, the Emperor sent over a draft of the treaty via an encoded message to Poe's personal comm codes that had been provided during their first meeting above Akuria. It was a daunting fifteen pages long and it took them almost an entire week to comb over every clause, taking notes and making amendment.

Finally, when they reached the last page, Poe threw down his data pad with an exhausted sigh, "Well at least through all of this we will finally get to see the unfortunate lady who is saddled with Kylo Ren for the rest of her Maker forsaken life."

"What do you mean?" Rey asked while smearing a pickled water-based vegetable with a sweet nut butter.

Poe pulled a face at his companion's choice of food combinations, but figured that compared to starvation, anything could be considered a delicacy. "Two people from each side are required to sign the treaty." He paused hoping she would understand but when she just took another bit of concoction that made his stomach roll, Poe continued, "Myself and Connix will sign for the Resistance and Ren and his Empress will sign for the New Order. That has to mean that she will be there in person."

Rey went pale, not knowing that she would have to out herself so soon and so publicly. She hoped to let her friends warm to the idea of her new position and who she would share that position with. But apparently her _husband_ had other plans in mind and as a new wave of anxiety rolled through her, so did the nausea and she crudely wretched the contents of her stomach into a near by trash can.

"I told you not to eat that garbage," Poe said in empathic disgust. "All that sugar will rot your gut."

Fearing she had caught a bug or as Poe had suggested, purely upset her stomach with her new found hankerings for uncommon food combinations, Rey locked herself away in her room for two days, not wanting to chance getting anyone else sick, especially not Rose in her current condition.

With more sensible foods and with a lot of rest, Rey was feeling more like herself by the end of day two, and even though Ben had doted on her though the bond, she has not felt up to confronting him about her need to sign the treaty as Empress and not just Rey, reasonable Light-sider who kept Kylo Ren from damning the entire galaxy.

The Force went back to being fickle with their bond connections as the date of the treaty signing approached. Rey kept busy with her duties in the hangar and also continued to train and master her saber forms. As the days went on she felt a renewed sense of power brewing within her, untapped until now, and she was thankful for it with what was sure to be a difficult transition from rebel scum to crowns regent of the galaxy.

Three days before the signing, day five hundred and twenty-seven, Rey and Rose were back on the untraceable shuttle on their way to Orinda for Rose's thirteen week check up and on the short flight, they discussed some of the places that Rose wanted to see after the treaty was finalized.

Rey had unceremoniously been dropping hints about Coruscant and Naboo as prospects for work and settling their rapidly growing family, and Rose was certainly growing. Her stomach seemed to have popped over night, no longer looking like she had indulged in a large meal and more like she was truly carrying a little life within her.

There was so much change on the horizon and Rey buzzed with excitement as they came to land in the same yard on Orinda with the same port master who took her credits with a subtle bow. Unlike last time though, there wasn't any guards or Knights in sight and Rey was almost glad for it, because she need to confirm her suspicions without being watched at every turn, and then Ben would be the first she would tell any news to.

They made the short walk to the clinic and got Rose checked in. Rey reflected back on the past few weeks when she started to feel like something was different within her. Her menstrual cycle were never regular due to being kept at near starvation for so many of her developmental years, so it wasn't uncommon for her to go a few months without a bleed, but this time was not like the rest, something was _off_ , but in the most promising and glorious way.

So she had a plan, she would find out during this trip if she was truly carrying Ben's child…their child, and then tell him the happy news after they once and for all brought peace to the galaxy. She just hoped that she could keep it a secret within their bond long enough to surprise him in person.

The consideration of not being pregnant flowed through her mind, and Rey found herself utterly devastated by the thought. So she placed her open palm to her lower abdomen and reached out with the Force. The feeling of…newness…was still there, pulsing with Light and even though she kept thinking that she only felt him because of the kyber that she wore around her neck, Rey could unmistakably feel Ben there too.

Rey went back to the exam room with Rose and her dear friend got a normal report and another small print out with even more detail of the little nugget that would undoubtedly be adorable considering who her parents were.

When Rose was redressed and asking if Rey was ready to head out, she did something that she would defiantly need to ask forgiveness for later. Rey Jedi mind tricked Rose into going back out into the lobby and waiting with no questions asked.

Once she was alone in the room, Rey bit at her lip and was pulled from her inner thoughts when the nurse came back around, "Oh! You're still in here. Is your friend alright?"

Using the Force again, Rey pulled the now wide eyes nurse into the room before closing and locking the door. "Calm down," Rey suggested. "I won't hurt you. I just need your discretion."

The nurse, who's name tag read 'Jini' visibly relaxed and nodded, "Of course."

Rey took in a deep breath, "I think that I'm pregnant and I need you to check for me."

"I'll go get the doctor," Jini offered in a chipper tone.

"No!" Rey panicked, the less people who knew the better. "I want you to check. Just you."

Jini nodded again and walked to a cluster of cabinets pulling out a small diagnostic component much like the one that they had on the base and Rey kicked herself for not thinking about testing her hormone levels herself. But she offered her finger all the same and the thirty seconds that it took the machine to analyze her sample was agonizing.

Rey held her breath the entire time and almost felt faint, perhaps from the lack of oxygen, or perhaps from the smile and offer of congratulations from Jini as the analyze came back positive.

"You should sit down, you look pale," Jini stated and helped Rey to a nearby chair.

Taking in some deep, calming breaths as the nurse instructed, Rey started to get her wits about her again and looked up at the classically beautiful woman with shortly cropped red hair who had just confirmed what Rey had been feeling for weeks now, "Can I get a picture? Like the one, my friend got…to show the father?"

Jini smiled and reached back before handing Rey a gown, asking her to strip then get situated on the exam table. "Do you have any idea how far along you are?"

Rey thought back, knowing that the last time they had sex, in person or through the bond had been on the _Serenity_ , she had not been kidding when calling the Force fickle. Then she tried to remember the last time she took the pills that Ben had given her on Mygeeto and truthfully the last time she remembered having them was on Coruscant after their wedding and she suspected that they were in the top drawer of her vanity.

"Six weeks…give or take," Rey estimated.

With a slightly distressed expression, Jini went over to a machine and instead of picking up the flat wand that she used on Rose, the nurse held one that was quite… phallic. "If you are only six weeks along we will need go in vaginally to try and get a picture of the baby."

Nodding, Rey scooted her bottom down on the exam table like she had seen Rose do twice now and with a steadying breath, let her knees fall apart. "This will be cold," Jini warned and Rey grimaced at the feeling of being penetrated by the device. It's girth had nothing on the size of her husband, but Ben was diligent when preparing her for him and she was usually stretched and slick by the time he entered her.

Jini's voice was droning on and Rey tired to focus as the display screen flickered with grainy black and white blobs that she desperately tried to identify as her baby…that was until she heard the most amazing sound of her entire life and before she could completely comprehend what it was, tears were streaming down her cheeks.

Steady and strong, at the tempo of a hummingbird's wings, Rey heard her child's Light and pure heart beat for the first time and the emotion that flowed through her could only be compared to the moment that she knew loved Ben with every midi-chlorian in her being. But somehow it went deeper than that, she knew that there wasn't anything she wouldn't forsake for this child. She would protect this new life with every ounce of her being and reaching out with the Force, she already knew it's signature, already felt it's Light, and she loved her child unconditionally from this very moment.

Rey only came out of her daze when the probe was pulled from her and Jini told her that she could sit up and get dressed while she finished taking the measurements and printing the sonogram pictures.

The print out only showed a small white bean shaped blob inside of a dark, larger bean shaped void which she was told is her womb. Rey touched the smaller bean, "This is my baby?"

Jini nodded. "We usually don't start following expecting mother until about eight weeks, but you should go ahead and schedule yourself an appointment for four weeks from now, just to see how you are progressing and confirm your due date, but from my measurement, you are actually just shy of six weeks."

"My wedding…" Rey mused and almost had to laugh to herself that both Rose and herself would get knocked up on their wedding nights.

"Well again, congratulations to you and your husband. Perhaps he can come in with you on your next appointment." Jini offered as she started to wipe down the medical equipment.

Rey doubted that she would ever step foot back in this clinic again, knowing that as soon as she told Ben, he would task a whole team of doctors and midwives to be at her beck and call. So Rey gave the friendly and helpful nurse a sad smile as she reached out and placed her fore and middle fingers against the woman's temple, "You won't remember helping me today. You will not remember preforming any of the tests or any of their results."

Jini repeated the simple phrases and then smiled kindly and walked out of the room as if she didn't even see Rey standing there. Moving quickly, Rey tucked the pictures into her pocket and went to collect Rose from the waiting room.

On the journey home, Rey made an effort to keep the bond at bay, perhaps disguising her excitement about the baby with the anticipatory anxiety of the treaty signing. She also started to think about how she would tell him and she settled on tucking the picture of their little bean into the pages of another Jedi text, perhaps in the section that spoke of denying one self of attachments as a jeer at those who thought that these new lives were not worth consideration in the Force.

Rey came back into focus when the alarm sounded that they would soon be exiting hyperspace and she was hit with a wave of pain that practically left her breathless.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked from the co-pilot's seat as she watched her friend grip at her chest and gasp for breath.

"I don't know," Rey answered honestly, reaching into the kyber of her engagement ring before reaching out into the Force and was relieved to feel Ben's signature still shining strong across the galaxy as he was undoubtedly engaged in last minute council meetings before readying to set out from the Core to their rendezvous point over Akuria.

But when the shuttle stuttered into real space, both Rey and Rose cursed and Rey immediately took over manual controls. The utter chaos outside their windscreen was nothing that Rey could fathom. A _Resurgent-_ class Star Destroyer perched just outside of orbit and TIE swarmed down to the surface, it seemed that legions of them blotted out the green of the vast forests below.

"What is happening?" Rose was screaming and sobbing at the same time, attempting to process how what they were seeing could be reality.

Thanking the Maker that her shuttle was undetectable and would not show up as a rebel ship on any of the Destroyer's scanning systems, Rey worked her way down to the surface, swinging wide to avoid the main fleets of TIEs. When the base came in to view, Rey knew what the pain was that settled deep in her chest…death…mass and seemingly unavoidable death.

Bodies of her fellow Resistance fighters littered the tarmac, X-wings sat untouched but ablaze as if the attack was such a surprise that not a one was able to get off the ground in defense. "How can this…" Rey stammered, still trying to wrap her mind around how this was possible.

Her landing was rough and she was out of her harness and racing for the hull door before the engines could finish winding down. "Rey!" Rose called out desperately, not knowing what to do.

"Stay behind cover or make sure to stay behind me."

Rose took out her blaster and they traversed through the forest around the base, ducking behind trees and larger rocks when possible. Rey had her saber in her hand, but had yet to ignite the twin azure blades, not wanting to give away their position. Running purely on adrenaline, Rey went into fighter mode, ready to rescue as many people from the base as she could. She couldn't pause to try and comprehend how this had happened, she just needed to survive now and get answers to questions later.

There were troopers on the ground, their white armor in stark contrast of the lush green of the forest and the plumbs of choking black smoke that seemed to emitted from every corner of the base. When a small grouping of troopers approached their position, Rey again paused, thinking who was behind the masks. Was it someone Finn knew? Would someone mourn them like Arlan had her old roommate who died in Ben's assassination attempt?

But as she heard them call out their position, she knew that if it was going to be her life, the lives of Rose and their unborn babies, or the five troopers who were unfortunate enough to stumble upon them, the trooper were undoubtedly going to meet their Maker that day.

With moves that were almost dance-like, Rey separated her sabers, ignited them with echoing pops and hisses, and cut the troopers down with forms a second-year padawan would learn. "We need to move," Rey called back to Rose.

As they ran, Rey's blades cut though white armor and Rose's blaster left precision char marks over chest plates. They were quite a formidable pair as they advanced on one of the side entrances of the base but were thrown back right when they came to the door when the ground shook around them.

Looking up, Rey saw the Destroyer hanging high above the atmosphere and was beyond belief that they would fire ion cannons at that range…they seemed to not care about their ground forces either, just the utter and complete destruction of the Resistance base. "We need to move," Rey yelled again over their ringing ears and she used the help of the Force to wretch the door from its hinges.

Once inside the base, the halls were clouded with dust and smoke, lights flickered over head and alarms sounded. "Go to your room, gather anything you will need, and see if Finn is there." Rey instructed while coughing through the sharp air. "I will see if anyone is in the command center. Meet me in the hangar in ten minutes."

Rey didn't think Rose was in no condition to be running all over the base, but she watched her feisty friend nod with large but determined eyes and stalk off into the dark halls, throwing blaster fire around each corner to clear her path. She had no doubts that Rose could handler herself, as before being coming pregnant, Rose would at times join Rey in hand to hand combat training.

So Rey took a calming breath and raced down the opposite hall. The command center was not far from this sections of the base and her heart almost skipped a beat of hope when she saw that the room was one the only ones on the hall that didn't have smoke billowing out of it. But her fears were spiked again when she stumbled to a stop just over the threshold when seeing six troopers in the room, attempting to gather intel from the computers.

"Halt!" One yelled out through his helmet and held up his DLT-19 heavy blaster rifle.

Rey froze but her saber hilt was still in her grasp and her other hand was ready to wield the Force if needed. "What is going on here? Where is the General?"

While the first trooper held her under gunpoint, another approached, "It's the Jedi girl. The Supreme Leader's order were to capture her."

Rey's cool exterior crumbled trying to process the trooper's words. They knew who she was, were targeting her, have orders to capture her. Next the echo of _Supreme Leader_ rattled around in her mind before she looked up at the trooper again and raised her chin, "I am your Empress. You will cease this attack at once and tell me who gave these orders!"

As if none of the soldiers in the room heard a word she said, the trooper who keep his blaster on her the entire time clicked something on the rifle and the whine of a charge sounded, "The Supreme Leader gave me other orders."

It all happened so quickly that Rey swore if she didn't have her Jedi reflexes, she would surely have fallen in that dank command room. But just as Ben tough her, she felt the energy of the blaster bolt and was able to stop it in mid-air while she ignited one of her blades and sent a jabbing stab into the nearest trooper's chest.

Chaos rang out after that as Rey ducked, dodged, and froze blaster bolts and she advanced through the room, singeing off limbs, sending her blade through chests and necks until the trooper was nothing but heaps of polysteel armor and smoking meat hunks. Blood splattered across her face and matted her hair.

 _This was all a trap_ , she screamed to herself. All those time that Ben refused to agree to help Finn find a place in government, or agree upon a punishment for Poe's war crimes, it was because he never expected them to live to see those situations come to be. How could she have been so stupid?

Running from the command center, she cut down troopers all the way to her quarters, kicking the door in and grabbing for her larger travel bag that she used when going off-world for more than a few days.

She grabbed for the Jedi texts first, then started pulling clothes from her drawers but faltered when she came to the top drawer and her fingers bushed the box of Ben. By the time she reached her room, fat tears were rolling down her face, not wanting to believe the he could have any part of this. She thought that he had left the title Supreme Leader behind, she thought that he loved her too much to do this…he had promised!

Pulling open the lid to the box, Rey wanted to light the contenders on fire, all of his pretty words, gifts, sentiments, were all to lull her into complacency. He had asked her to rule with him back on the _Supremacy_ and she had denied him, what a dark and crafty bastard he was to orchestrate a year-long plan to get exactly what he wanted.

She has fallen for him, his pretty eyes and attentive lips, given herself to him willingly, allowed him to know where the Resistance was based without warning Poe or the others of the dangers because she thought there were none. She had married him, she knew for a fact that their bond was solidified in the Force and by law. She was his, body and soul, and even with her troubled upbringing on Jakku, she had never felt more used…owned, than she did now.

 _No_ , Rey thought to herself, in death he would not have control over her, in death he could not hurt her like she hurt this moment, could not break any more promises. The troopers had been ordered to capture and kill, he wanted her dead and Rey almost wanted to fall into the black hole as it felt like her heart was being ripped out of her chest.

She rested her head against the cool durasteel wall of her quarters and whispered, "Fuck the Force…"

As she cursed the Force, something that she never thought she would have occasion to do, something that she would have been mortified to utter just months ago…She had trusted the Force, had put her unbridled faith in her visions and the pull towards Ben…towards Kylo Ren, as she fell hard and fast into his trap.

"Fuck the Force and fuck Ben Solo," Rey muttered through raw lips as she wished the Cosmic power that raged around her would just swallower her into the abyss, bring her into the beyond with all the other's who Kylo Ren had betrayed and ended.

But then she felt the pulse of Light from within her and she rested her hand on her lower abdomen. She had a child to think of now, his child, a conniving creature's child, but she would make sure that her baby always knew her Light and would never be touched by its father's Darkness.

As her heart was breaking and she continued to feel her friends pass into the Force as slow and agonizing deaths took them, Rey blinked through her tears, let out a heaving cry and then took the box and shoved it into the top of her bag before pulling the draw string close and throwing the straps over her shoulder.

Ten more troopers fell on her way to the hangar and she seemed to apologize to the Force with each life that she took, but she had to protect herself, her child, her friends…if any of them were still alive.

She rounded the last corner before coming to the open hangar when she heard Rose's shrill scream echo off the cavernous space. Without hesitation, Rey raced in the direction of her friend's cries and slid to a stop as if she had been punched in the gut.

Rey could see Rose's back as she knelt on the hard tarmac, her body rocking in an almost self-soothing manner, but what made Rey halt in her advance, was the limp body that Rose was cradling in her lap. Rey would know that jacket anywhere, the worn brown leather of Poe's old fighter jacket that Finn had lovingly stitched back together after Kylo Ren cut it through on Starkiller.

 _Kylo Ren_ , Rey seethed as she fell next to her friend searching for any signs of life in Finn's ashen face, but the blaster burns to his chest and abdomen left no question of his survival. "He's gone," Rey offers through a sob as she rests her head on Rose's shoulder.

Allowing her self a moment to fall apart, Rey cried for her first friend, thinking back to how they were both thrown into this fight and she wondered for just a moment if she had gone with him back when he offered her an escape on Takodana, what their life would have looked like. Would they have found a quiet world to settle on, maybe grow to love each other as more than friends, marry, and be expecting their first child?

Jakku and Takodana seem so long ago, another life that now she yearns for.

Looking up from her sorrow, Rey finally takes in the scene of the hangar and she feels that if she continues to cry this hard that she will die of dehydration. Bodies lay broken and burned by blasters and ion cannons. Not one X-wing is left serviceable as they lick with flames and smell heavy of jet fuel.

Then she sees it, the tuft of black hair, the dark leather jacket with the red and gold Rebel symbol sewn to the left shoulder…Poe. Her legs somehow moved of their own accord as she felt as if she had no control over her fatigued limbs, but she ran to him and slid to her knees next to him. "Poe!" She called as she checked over his body for injury and tapped at his cheeks.

She could feel the faintest life force still flickering in him and she laugh-sobbed when his eyes cracked open and looked up at her, "Poe! What the hell happened?"

"We were betrayed," his voice was hoarse and his breath bubbled with each inhale as his lungs filled with blood. "We had no chance…"

As his eyes drifted closed again, Rey looked over his paling face frantically, grabbing at his shoulders and shaking him, "Poe! You have to hang on!"

With one last gurgled breath, Poe's body went limp and Rey draped herself across his chest, screaming, sobbing, cursing. A shrill cry of binary echoed and Rey looked up at a blaster scorched BB-8 as he rolled up to mourn his fallen master.

Just beyond the smoke that shielding Rey and Rose's positions, she heard the troopers call out a retreat order, "They are recharging the ion cannons! There will be nothing left to sift through once they are done! Move out," the modulated voice rang out it's warning.

Rey and BB-8 shared a glance before she dipped down and placed a kiss to Poe's forehead, "You were a better man than I ever realized."

With one final sorrowful gaze, Rey stood and raced towards Rose. "We need to go," she panted. "They are going to blow this place to space dust!"

"We can't leave him!" Rose wailed.

Rey's heart broke more than she thought was even possible. "He's gone, Rose. They are all gone! We have to go. You have your baby to think of now. You have to live on for Finn. We have to live on for all of them," she looked around the hangar as more fires started and more alarms sounded.

Rose's face was blotchy and tear-stained as she kissed her husband's still face, whispering her love and promises to make sure that their child will also know what a brave and amazing man her father was. Rey didn't think that she could sink any deeper into despair, but she was too reminded that her child would never have a father like Finn, kind, loyal, and not willing to commit mass murder time and time again in the name of power.

Having to practically pull Rose away from Finn's body, Rey knew that her friend would blame her for all of this if she was ever to find out about Rey's secret life with Kylo Ren. Rey had been in bed, literally, with the enemy for over a year and surely all of this could have been avoided if Rey wasn't so desperate for attention, for love, for a family.

The cost was too high and Rey would live her life serving penance for this eternal and unspoken betrayal.

As they raced away from the base and back towards the shuttle that was tucked into the tree line, Rey felt the air pull from around her and she called out for Rose and BB-8 to go ahead and get the shuttle started for a quick departure.

When the bond opened, Rey turned towards him, in his full regalia, his mask was pulled off and cast to the side. His expression was wild and he looked at her as if he was seeing a ghost and it hit Rey that he expected her to be dead. His lips moved a few time but it appeared that he had no explanation for the massacre that he had been planning for over a year.

"You promised!" Rey screamed at him with gut-wrenching pain that almost made her double over.

* * *

 **AN: (Hides behind something)**

 **I have tears in my eyes posting this, this is not easy for me, but this has always been the plan and I'm so sorry, but not sorry because this is how it has to be for now.**

 **There will be one more chapter of this story before we venture into the next Episode which I have tentatively named The Reckoning in the Force.**


	40. Part XL

**Part XL**

"Rey," he tried to reach for her, much as he had in the beginning, when the bond opened again after Crait like she was a scared and wounded animal that would lash out and try to bite at the earliest opportunity.

Instead she dropped her bag and drew her saber, swinging it at him with a blood curdling cry. "You lying monster!"

On instinct, Ben also drew his saber and blocked her downward strike but made no move to engage her in combat. Before he could speak, she kicked him square in the chest and sent him toppling back onto the ground while his saber hilt chattered to the floor.

Like on Starkiller, she stood over him, given the option to end him once and for all and she held her blue spitting blade at his throat and he looked up at her with confusion, hurt…love…no it wasn't love, it was disappointment that he had been bested once more by her hand. "Surprised to see that I'm still alive, Kylo Ren?" Rey sneered through gritted teeth as his betrayal burned in her gaze.

Before she could deliver the killing blow, the bond cut out and he vanished out from under her and she produced a feral scream that shook the ground around her and she sent another curse out into the Force for denying her swift and apt retribution.

In that moment she decided to break the most binding promises she had ever made to him, more than her wedding vows that now tasted like acid on her tongue, more than her coronation declaration where she swore to be just and loving to her people and to her Emperor. Rey wanted him to feel the pain that she was feeling, she wanted him to suffer as she was suffering…

"Fuck the Force," she uttered one more time before digging deep and ripping out the part that connected her to every other living being.

Turning her back on the Force felt different this time because she wasn't just killing her connection to the Cosmos, she as also killing her connection to Ben. He had sent her holocrons about Force Bonds so that she could better understand what they had and all of the documents stated that these types of bonds were not easily severed.

It wasn't just flipping a switch, as these bonds are usually rooted deeply within emotions, within the trust and love formed by the two bond-mates. To dissolve the bond Rey had to abolish the feelings that held them together and in this unspeakable act Ben had made it easy on her.

Kill the past, indeed, Rey mused as she watched the base burn before her, the stench of fuel and charred flesh tainting her nostrils as all of the love in her heart for Ben Solo turned to hate for Kylo Ren. Her feelings morphed, twisted, steeped in the Darkness that she no longer had any control over, and she fell to her knees in agony as if she was being ripped in two.

By the end of it she felt empty, as if in her chest there was a gaping wound that would never heal. But she would carry this with her for the rest of her days, her own unseen crown of thorns to remind her of all the unspoken sins she committed against the people who had only ever tried to love her, give her a sense family, give her a place in this galaxy, the feeling of belonging that she thought she had found in another…in another life that she would now leave behind.

Digging her fingers into the scorched duracrete of the tarmac, Rey collected herself long enough to retrieve her bag and limp her broken body to the shuttle and get them off world before all the might of the New Order…no the First Order rained down upon Dantooine and erased every trace that the Resistance was ever there.

As they broke atmosphere, the Destroyer fired all of its cannons upon the surface and Rey watched the only home, that meant anything to her now, be turned into dust. All of the people she considered family, people she loved, were gone, and Rose wept inconsolably next to her, not even given the change to giver her husband a proper burial.

All the while Rey felt dead inside. She had lost her friends on both sides, never being able to trust the guards or Knights ever again, figuring they were all laughing at her naivety at this very moment. She had lost the man she thought she loved more than her own life, she lost the dream of a family, she lost the visions that the Force had danged before her, they all seemed almost mocking now. She was lost to the Force…and it felt like she had lost everything.

But the small blip of Light that still lingered in her was a reminder that, in fact, not all was lost.

99999999

Ben was furious.

It was four days before the treaty signing and he had been called out to Maker forsaken Savareen in the Outer Rim. Hux had taken back over control of the _Finalizer_ and was tasked with make sure that the cartels toed the line. Savareen was known for its ties to the Red Dawn, and Hux had asked for the assistance of the Emperor and his Knights to manage a situation down on the surface.

In preparation, Ben had sent Arlan and Tyris on to the _Serenity_ to make sure that Rey and the Resistance leadership were settling in nicely and reassured that the treaty signing would still happen, even if the Emperor was a little late to the party.

So after spending almost thirty hours locked in a fatiguing battle with the remnants of the Red Dawn, Ben was happy to be back aboard the _Finalizer_ , striding into his throne room to debrief leadership and then head out across the galaxy to finally have peace.

Loving that the leadership of his military still shivered with fear when they saw him stalk into the room with his helm in place, Ben walked past them and sat upon his throne while all in attendance sank to one knee. Hux was a little slower these days with his prosthetics, but doctors reported that he was fit for duty again.

Ben sat up on the dais and wondered if he could catch a nap from behind his mask as his Knights regaled the falling of the largest cartel syndicate in the galaxy, but in a moment they all went quiet…all that were attuned to the Force that is.

"A disturbance," Alister remarked as he watched his Master sit forward on the throne.

When a stabbing pain, one like he had felt from the massacre on Mairne, racked through his chest, Ren was on his feet and striding to the middle of the throne room in a heart beat. Reaching out through the Force he could feel Rey, but her signature was different, swirled with rage and a Darkness that almost took his breath away.

The air started to shift and he knew that a bond was coming but was not prepared for the figure that would materialize before him. Rey looked wild, her hair was frayed but also matted down with something dark and the quick realization that it was blood came over him as he saw red pock marks sprayed across her face.

Her eyes were burning but with hate and not lust like he was so accustom to. She look more like the Rey that had faced down Snoke than his wife who sweetly begged him for release. With shaking hands, he reached up and released his mask, pulling the helm from his head and casting it to the floor without a second thought.

His only concerns was Rey and he quickly scanned her body for injury for she surely looked like she had undergone her own battle. His expression was purely painted with concern and bewilderment, with a dash of anger over anyone who dare to hurt his wife! He moved his mouth but hesitated for a moment, being in a room full of people, half of who had not idea of his connection to the Resistance Jedi, he didn't know if he should just speak or ask his men to leave the room.

Rey didn't give him a chance to make that decision as a painful scream was sent forth from her lungs, "You promised!"

Forcing his mind to work quickly, Ben tired to pour over all of the promises that he had ever made to Rey and which of those he could have unknowingly broken in such glorious fashion to prompt such a greeting. "Rey," he reached for her, attempting to reassure her and begging her through the bond to show him what happened.

"You lying monster!" She called back and he wasn't given the time needed to find his folly as she was drawing her saber and advancing on him, fire in her gaze and bared teeth, as she lifted her saberstaff above her head and he called his saber, igniting it and bringing it to a defensive block just as Rey brought her blue blade down upon him with a strength that made him have to widen his stance to absorb the hit.

Ben's face glowed purple under their crossed blades and he studied her again, desperate to understand why she was fighting him, but she pulled her trademark move, and kicked him in the middle of the chest, right where he had taken a hit from a blaster rifle just hours earlier, and he stumbled backward, almost positive that he had felt a rib snap under her forceful blow.

His saber clattered to the polished floor and he sat up on his elbows looking up at her, completely at her mercy as she held her saber at his throat. Ben was so reminded of laying in the snow on Starkiller with his face splayed open by the same kyber, when it was whole and hummed with the power of his grandfather. Now it spit plasma upon his skin with the backing of his wife's rage.

"Surprised to see that I'm still alive, Kylo Ren?" Rey sneered down at him and hitched back her elbow with the intent of removing his head and ending his now conflicted existence.

But before she could strike true, and while Ben was trying to comprehend her words, as if he would ever want to exist in a galaxy where she was not a living Force to be reckoned with, the bond cut short and she was gone from his sight.

It was what came next that ruined him. It was that same feeling of having a piece of himself carved out with a dull spoon. The ripping and bloody feeling of Rey closing herself off to the Force that had him screaming and bowing off the floor like he was being tortured by an invisible entity. His Knights sprung in to action and surrounded him for protection until their Master attempted to control his breathing.

Pulling at the Darkness, Ben fed the power with his pain and slowly sat up, taking in the faces of the men in the room. Most held expression of fear or concern…confusion at the strange display their Emperor had just put on…and then there was Hux.

"What have you done?" Ren's voice was hard and spittle shot from his lips at the force of his accusation.

Reaching across his body and wrapping his flesh and blood hand around his prosthetic, Hux rolled his should with the phantom pain of his missing right arm, "I did what you have failed to do for over a year while you bedded that Jedi whore."

Ren was now on his feet, calling his saber back to his hand and lighting the blade, it's tip positioned just under Hux's chin. "You don't speak of your Empress with such disdain."

"Empress," Hux scoffed. "Yet another title made up by a foolish boy with a laser sword." The General's face was hard, pressed into a permanent frown as he spoke through his teeth and let his pale eyes cut to the blade still pointed at him like it was a toy he could take away from a naughty child.

"I will only ask once more before I take what I need out of your head," Ren warned. "What have you done?"

Hux calmly brought up his robotic hand, pressing his finger to the saber blade and watched with a board expression as it cut through the metal digit, before the durasteel nub clinked to the floor. "After you so blatantly set me up to take the fall during what was to be your assassination, and you know," he now wiggled the remaining fingers on his right hand, "was blown to pieces…"

The General had the audacity to start to pace a few steps casually in each direction with the distinctive limp from his prosthetic leg, but the saber blade still followed his every move. "I must know, was it you who set up the attempt on your own life so that you could be rid of me and crown yourself Emperor, or was that truly the actions of your whore and her Resistance friends?"

"Call her that again and it will be the last word you ever utter."

"Apologies," Hux mocked. "Was the attack an operation of you and the Empress' design?"

"We had nothing to do with it."

"Ah, but she did warn you about the planned attempt on your life and you send me in your stead." Hux's orange brows were high on his forehead as he awaited a reply and when Kylo Ren offered none, Hux knew he had his answer.

With a smug nod, Hux started pacing again, much like he does on the bridge of _his_ warship. "During my recovery from being shot out of the fucking sky!" Hux gave Ren a pointed gaze and his shrill but booming voice echoed off the throne room walls. But he pushed back his hair that had fallen out of place with his rant, "I had a lot of time to think, plan, and dig into this Empire that you seemed to have formed overnight.

"What a shock it was to find that you had been conspiring with a woman, putting her influence so deep into documents that it would take someone half bored and half mad to find them. Then the photos were covered up of you and this hooded woman popping up around the galaxy."

Hux rubbed at what used to be his thigh, but now was just a cluster of wires and rods, "Dinners on Noonar, picnics on Endor, presenting her to the Queen on Naboo, and my favorite little date was flying TIEs over Kuat." Hux held his hand over his heart in jest, as if he was swooning over his most beloved celebrity couple. But his eyes turn back hard and piercing, "Did you think you could hide your betrayal from me?" He yelled across the span of the saber blade.

"It wasn't any of your concern," Ren gritted out.

"What about the case you are building against me, Ren? The fact that you want to put _me_ on trial for war crimes! Is that any of my business?"

"Both sides will answer for their crimes."

"Yes, your little treaty with the Resistance," Hux hummed and clasped his hands behind his back, still pacing. "Our Master would be so disappointed in you Ren. Always so weak…" he clicked his tongue in disapproval. "And to think, you knew exactly where the Resistance was hiding this entire time and did nothing about it. Allowing them to continue their attacks and pillage of our resources."

Stopping right in front of that man who had taken the throne from him by Force, Hux held his hard eyes with Ren's crazed gaze, "You are the traitor. It is you who have betrayed us all. It is you who is to blame for what I had to do to regain the power and glory of the First Order."

Ren adjusted his grip, the leather of his gloves creaked under the pressure of his hold on the hilt of his saber, but the blade held firm, throwing off sparks upon Hux's pale face as he almost transparent eyes held nothing but hollow hate and ambition.

"You are pathetic, feeble, and you murdered my Master, destroying everything my father before me, has worked for. And you did it for nothing more than a filthy scavenger with perky tits and a dripping cunt."

Ren saw red, rotating the blade of his saber, daring Hux to say any more…

The tenacious General took the bait, "You have ruined us all for a common, worthless Jakku whor…"

Hux was unable to finish the word that Ren had warned him against as Kylo flicked his wrist and threw his arm out in a sweeping motion that left Hux crumbling to his knees, well his body at least, as his still sneering head fell with a sickening thud on the throne room floor.

Roaring out his still lingering pain, Ren beat on his chest, assaulting his cracked ribs to ground himself in the physical pain of the moment. Like on Starkiller, when he had been so emotionally wrecked by the deed of killing his own father, he drew strength from physical pain. The hole that Rey left in his chest was far greater than the one inflicted by his father, and Kylo struggled to breath.

Turning to his Knights he spoke, "Interrogate them all," he pointed his saber at the other leadership in the room. "Kill those who had any hand in this plot to overthrow the Empire and kill our Empress."

A Major was already on his knees begging for mercy, but Kylo Ren was not a man of leniency, that would be a grace possessed by the Empress and they had taken her from him. They would pay for their insolence and he smirked as Cale ran the Major through without a second consideration.

"Ready my ship," he called as he swept from the room in a flurry of leather boots, whipping cape, and battle-worn dark locks.

Before he could take two paces into the hallway, he was rewarded with the snapping buzz of sabers and terrified screams of the Officers meeting their end at the hands of his Knights, and he walked on with renewed purpose.

Within ten minutes they were on the MK3 shuttle and racing away from the _Finalizer_ and towards Dantooine. He left his forth Knight, Lophen and Davin in charge of the ship to ensure that they were not able to do any more damage to his Empire and sent a cease-comm to the _Imperial I-_ class Star Destroyer, the _Executioner_ , who, while aptly named, led the attack on the Resistance base.

Ben needed to see Hux's betrayal for his own eyes and if Rey was still there by some charity of the Force, then he could explain everything to her and they would be fine… _Right?_ He thought to himself. They would make it through this, they had to make it through this. He had begged her so many times to never doubt their love. He needed to see what had caused her so much pain that she would turn herself off to the Force again.

His gut dropped at the thought of her not being on Dantooine and he put out a call to Arlan on the _Serenity_ to attempt communication with Rey's shuttle, her datapad…anything since his direct line to her was pulled painfully tight and utterly quiet.

As Jix and Bona tried to patch him up from their battle with the Red Dawn, he pushed at them as they injected him with pain killers and sprayed bacta into his wounds. He didn't care about more scars, as the most life-threatening wound was one that couldn't be seen and he almost needed the pain as a distraction.

Thinking back to their conversation over Er'kit, how he had made her memorize the coordinates for his grandfather's stronghold, he ordered a comm be sent to the _Finalizer_ that Davin would fly to Mustafar and wait for further instructions. Even though at the time Ben had told her not to trust anyone, he prayed that she would trust Davin should she seek sanctuary on the volcanic world.

It would take hours for them to get from sector Q16 to L4, and he had to give Hux credit for getting his adversary far enough away from the fight that even if Ren learned of the attack plan, he never would have reached them in time to make a difference.

Lastly he sent a message to his cousin Irris, pleading with her to comm him if Rey was to turn up on Naboo. Even if his wife showed up ranting about what a monstrous murdering dick he was, how he had lied, and betrayed their vows, to each other and in the Force, he requested that the Queen keep Rey safe until he could get there to console her and grovel at her feet until she believed in them again.

Feeling like a caged animal and pacing the length of the Command Shuttle, Alister came up and placed his hand on his Master's shoulder. "Why don't you go try to meditate for a while."

Ben shrugged off his friend's touch and shot him a discrediting look, "How the hell am I suppose to meditate at a time like this?"

Alister just shrugged, always the cooler head of the two, "You are no good to us like this. You will be no good for _her_ like this."

With an exhausted exhale Ben let his shoulders fall, "When did you become the wise one?"

"Comes with old age I suspect."

Surprisingly Ben puffed out a snort as his first Knight was just slightly older than himself and for the first time in many years, Ben was starting to feel his age. Rey had made him feel young again, brought vitality back to his bloodstream, and without her Light shining through their bond, he felt as if his body was heavier, more sluggish, and begrudgingly he took his Knight's advice.

Their quarters smelled like her, fresh lavender and rose oil, and he wanted to curl up on their bed and weep, but he needed to center himself before either comforting her or enacting a full out search of the galaxy for her.

Pulling off the gloves that were stained with Hux's blood, he slumped to the ground, sitting cross-legged and attempted to relax his mind and body into the Force. When he closed his eyes, flashing of Rey danced behind his lids. Her smiling face as she sat astride him on the terrace of their apartment, her hungry lips kissing down his chest, her unwavering beauty in navy silk on the steps of the palace in Theed. He was amazed how much she had changed him in such a short period of time.

It had taken Snoke years to turn Ben's heart and the betrayal of his uncle to be the true catalysis of his downfall into Darkness. But Rey had swept into his life like a beautiful but terrifying tornado of passion and spitfire, and he was helpless but to fall into her trance.

His brows pricked together at how easily she had doubted him though, and the hole in his chest seemed to widen. She knew his deepest traumas, how his parents and his uncle had assumed his path was already made, with the Skywalker blood, the Vader blood in his veins, that Ben was only destine for Darkness. She had promised him, between heated skin and deep kisses, that they were not the sins of their blood, so in this she had broken yet another vow to him.

Ben wasn't ignorant to the fact that at some point in their marriage he would royally send her off the deep end with some half-brained decision or being perceived as misogynistic when his intent was chivalry. He knew that he would screw up, he was his father's son after all, but she would never not know his all-consuming love and devotion to her. He wouldn't leave her like her parents had and like Han had left his mother. He would always come back to her…

But this time she had left him, completely cutting all ties. He could only hope that once she cooled off, she would reopen the bond and he would be able to find her. For the first time he cursed that he had not at least placed one tracker on the shuttle he gifted her on Mygeeto.

Finally fixing his posture and trying again to do as Alister suggested, Ben attempted to clear his mind and trust in the Force, for it would not bring them this far just for their story to end here.

Pain…he felt pain, maybe his own, perhaps Rey's, it was all-encompassing.

Reaching out further, Ben almost felt like he got a glimpse of her, but sifting through trillions of life forces was like trying to find one molecule of water in the oceans of Ahch-To. And in classic Rey fashion, she was the one speck of water that didn't want to be found.

Ben huffed out in frustration but felt a prickle at the back of his head and excitedly his eyes shot open, "Oh, it's just you."

"Always such pleasant greetings for your mother."

"I'm a little busy," Ben shot back only half apologetically.

Now Leia had the courtesy to look as pained as her son felt, "I know…we all know."

He sighed at the knowledge that his whole family once again held witness to the biggest pitfalls of his life. Through the Force he could tell his spunky mother was just itching to say ' _I told you so_ ,' but he beat her to it, "You could have just told me to fucking kill Hux, you know."

Leia snorted at her son, missing this part of their relationship. When he had reached adulthood he was even more of a challenge, having no patience for double talk or the tongue in cheek ways of the Senate, and his solutions had always favored action over diplomacy. "That's not how the Force works, son."

Maybe it was being around his mother. again, or being awake for almost two days straight, but Ben was becoming slaphappy and pouted like he was a toddler, "Well the Force is kind of being a dick right now…"

"Now you really sound like Rey," Leia mused but then her expression slipped into sadness as she saw her poor boy fall apart at the mention of his bride.

"Help me, mother." He pleaded, having not asked anything of her in decades, "Help me find her."

Tears brimmed the old woman's eyes and now she also wanted to curse the Force and the philosophical gag order the other side placed on particular topics or future events. "I want to Benny, I do…"

"But you can't," his resolve was slipping and the Darkness started to brim within him again.

Looking somewhere between pained and pissed, Leia thought for a long moment before becoming determined. "Listen to me Ben…and this time, _really_ listen." She cut him what could only be described as a 'mom look' and she softened again when he nodded and sat up straighter at attention. She wanted to giggle at the thought that her boy was, _all ears_ , but she surpassed that joke for the dinner table later with the rest of the family.

"If you only search for something that is just hers, you will not be able to find her."

Ben's brows pinched together, "If I'm not looking for her, then…"

Leia waved her hands trying to get him to focus again, "She has turned herself off to the Force completely, we can't even feel her, but she has something with her that holds both of your signatures."

He thought for a long moment before his face lit up, "The kybers. The one from my saber and also from Mygeeto. I embedded my signature into them."

Bitting her tongue, Leia just nodded, but truthfully she had been driving Han crazy for weeks about finally becoming a grandmother, but that tidbit was not her's to tell and it was also one of the forbidden topics to pass from the beyond into the present. So she just reached out and touched his unscarred cheek again, "Look to the galaxy for a piece of yourself. It will be faint but it will grow stronger with time."

Instead of shying away from his mother's touch, he leaned into it and brought his palm up to cover the back of her hand, his wedding band clicking against the ring she wore on her right hand, the twin stones caught in an infinity of gold, representation of the connection between Luke and Leia, linked forever in the Force.

"Promise me something Ben," Leia's voice was just above a whisper.

He snorted, "Haven't you heard? I'm a lying monster who breaks promises…"

Leia sighed, "Two things then…" She met his saddened gaze, "Don't lose yourself to the Darkness again, even through this, know that your Light is still out there." She stroked his cheek with her thumb, "Don't be so hard on yourself. Keep being the man we know you can be, the man that Rey can come home to." She wiped at the tears rolling down his face, "And when she does come back, don't be too hard on her either."

Sniffling, his voice was thick, "That was three things and I think you mean _if_ she comes back…"

"When," Leia corrected him before leaning in and placing a kiss to her son's forehead. "Just continue to be the Light that will guide her home."

His mother faded back into the Force and a heaving sob racked his fatigued and battered body, but as he felt the ship pull from hyperspace he took a few calming breaths, wiped the back of his sleeves across his eyes roughly, and stood. Collecting his saber and his senses, Ben prepared himself to face his greatest folly yet, his own unspoken betrayal.

 **This Is Not Goodbye. This Is Until Next Time.**

* * *

 **AN: I'm not even sure what to say here. This was a one shot that got a little out of hand and I have love every moment of it with all of you. To anyone who has ever had to say goodbye to a well-loved friend, that is what I feel like right now with the end of this part of this saga.**

 **I want to thank each and every one of you for reading and supporting my overactive imagination. Your kind, thoughtful, and at times constructive words have pushed me to do better and I hope I have not let any of your down.**

 **Please be on the look out for the next installment of this story because Maker knows I can't leave them (and you) like this. If you follow this story, I may post a chapter 41 announcing the start of the next Episode when I start to publish it.**

 **In the mean time, please go support my other Reylo stories and I'm a sucker for comments so keep them coming to keep my fingers typing.**

 **A special shout out to my Muse, Jennie, who puts up with my crazy ideas and keeps me on track.**

 **xo - DangerTaylor**


	41. Announcement!

**Announcement:**

 **The second installment has been started and posted.** **The Reckoning in the Force** **will pick up right where** **The Unspoken Betrayal** **ends.**

 **I hope that you all will enjoy!**


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